The Sennin
by DragonMasterFlex
Summary: Desperate times call for desperate measures. The two greatest students of Jiraiya join forces via a unique method. A new power of the sage is forged to combat the mastermind of the Akatsuki and decide the fate of the world.
1. Unification

**Summary:** Desperate times call for desperate measures. The two greatest students of Jiraiya join forces via a unique method. A new power is forged to combat the mastermind of the Akatsuki and decide the fate of the world.**  
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**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

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><p><strong>Unification<br>**

"So these are the children of prophecy..."spoke the grand elder of Myobokuzan as he peered into the crystal ball within his hands. The Chief Toad Gamabunta sat across from the elder, also watching as the students of Jiraiya changed the fate of the world. The nagging and aching injuries from his recent battle, were ignored as he focused on his blond haired summoner.

He suddenly let out a laugh at the absurdity of it all, "Who would have thought that Jiraiya's one little book, could possible save the world. In the hands of that brat no less."

The elder sage's eyes suddenly widened, "It looks like they're not done surprising us yet...

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"I will believe in you Naruto Uzumaki." declared Nagato. "I can undone some of the damage I've done, but I need your help."

"My help?" questioned a stunned Naruto.

Nagato coughed, blood leaking out the corner of his mouth, "There's not much time to explain. Please place your hand on my chest, everything will become clear to you."

"Man, you look like you've seen better days." muttered Naruto as he got closer to Nagato, seeing the full extent of his weakened body.

Nagato coughed as he let out a chuckle, "You can say that again. What a drag, huh?"

Naruto smirked, "Now you sound like Shikamaru."

Nagato smiled, "I've studied your exploits. This is just another day at the office for you, turning an enemy into a friend. You truly are something else. You have great power, but you're going to need even moreif you're going to accomplish Jiriaya-sensei's dream. I want you to unite with you."

"Unite with you?" replied Naruto with a blank look.

Even Konan was lost on this one.

"Like you, I too am a descendant of the Uzumaki." explained Nagato. "Our clan has great power in our unique chakra. It's what allowed you to become a container for the Kyuubi and me to possess the Rinnegan. It's not much, but I wish to unite with you and merge my chakra with yours."

Naruto smirked, "I've got one grouchy resident already, one more won't hurt."

"Good." replied Nagato with a smile.

"Fair warning, if I don't like this, you're rooming with the fox." grunted Naruto as he placed his hand on his chest. "This ain't no vacation either. You'll pay rent just like the fox. You got that?"

Nagato laughed, "Ha! You're too much. Don't worry, once you get a taste of this, you'll be dieing to keep me around."

Konan didn't like where this was headed, "No Nagato! Please don't go!"

"I don't have much time left either way Konan. This way, I can make a difference, I can keep hope alive. There is nothing to worry about, the time is right."

"No, please..." she pleaded.

He gave her one final smile as he slowly rose to his feet, "I thank you for all you've done...my friend..."

Tears poured down her eyes as Nagato closed his and a look of peace she hadn't seen in years formed on his face.

"Don't worry, I'll look out for her. It's the least I can do." Naruto whispered to Nagato.

Nagato smiled at him before his body was engulfed in a white aura. The frail man cried out as his body turned into nothing but energy. Naruto couldn't believe how much chakra he was outputting despite being on his last legs.

_'This is incredible...'_ thought the blond.

For her viewpoint, Konan was suddenly blinded as Nagato's aura emitted a bright white flash. Once she could see again, where two Uzumaki's once stood, there was now only one. Physically, Naruto had changed a little. He seemed to be a few inches taller, and his frame had packed on some more muscle. His spiky blond locks had lengthened a bit, and now possessed a few streaks of red. He looked down at his hands in amazement and when he turned towards Konan she was stunned by the site of his eyes. They were now a mixture between Naruto's own sage mode and the Rinnegan. They retained the shape and style of Sage mode, while adding the light purple coloring and ripple like pattern.

Naruto's expression of amazement quickly turned serious as he suddenly flashed through several hand signs before announcing, ****"Gedō: Rinne Tensei no Jutsu!" **(Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique)**

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

In center of the battlefield that was once the village of Konoha, there was a large puff of smoke as the Outer Path suddenly appeared on the ground, standing at a great height. It's mouth opened up as wide as possible and suddenly green tendrils of energy surged forward and shot out all over the village touching corpses.

"What's going on here? Did Naruto lose somehow?" muttered Shikamaru with a worried expression.

Ino kept her eyes on Shizune's body, "I don't think that's it. Something else is happening."

"This chakra..." informed Shino in his usual monotone. "It feels like Naruto's chakra."

All across the village, the survivors were stunned as their deceased comrades returned to the land of the living.

"Naruto...somehow, he's bringing them back." muttered Inoichi.

Shikaku gave him a stunned look, "How is that even possible?"

Sakura had no clue what was happening as she watched Fukasaku revive, _'Fukasaku was dead, I'm sure of it. How can he be getting up? What the hell is going on?'_

"Where am I?" muttered the old toad as he sat up.

Ma let out a loud screech of surprise at his revival.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

With all those killed in the battle revived, Naruto's eyes reverted back to his normal blues as a smirk crossed his face, "This is incredible! I've never felt anything like this before! My mind, my body, everything feels like me times a thousand! Hahaha!"

Konan stared at him in amazement as she let the hideout they were standing in revert to paper, and expose them to the outside world.

Naruto looked up towards the skies with his sage coat billowing behind him, "I'm awake! I'm finally wide awake! Yes! Hahaha!"

As the blond laughed this he slowly floated up into the air with his hands raised high and wide_._

_'He truly has inherited Nagato's abilities. This must be the manifestation of the gravity manipulation of the Deva Path.'_ thought Konan as she watched him in awe.

"Good bye, Nagato. I'll miss you, please be careful." she whispered.

Naruto turned back and smiled at her, "This isn't goodbye, more like, see you later."

There was a poof of smoke and suddenly a small scroll appeared in his hand, "I trust you're done with the Akatsuki and that may cause some problems. If something should come up, use this."

Konan bowed as she accepted the scroll, "Thank you, for everything. For giving him back his dream."

"I must go now...till next time...old friend." Naruto gave her one last wave before taking off across the tree tops in flight.

A true smile formed on Konan's face for the first time in a long time as she gathered Yahiko's body and returned to Ame.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Kakashi had been leaping through the forest towards Naruto, expecting to need to carry his exhausted student back to the village when he suddenly stopped in shock.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Kakashi as Naruto shot right past him overhead.

Naruto halted in the air and turned around to face him. The blond grinned at his sensei as he greeted him in a nonchalant manner, "Welcome back, Sensei."

Kakashi eye-smiled at him, "Good to be back, Naruto. Good to be back. Looks like you picked up a few new tricks while I was away."

Naruto shrugged as lowered himself down to the tree branch Kakashi was standing on, "More or less."

"Good to see it hasn't all gone to your head." replied Kakashi as he ruffled his hair.

Naruto pouted as he batted his hand away, "I'm not a little brat anymore, sensei."

Kakashi suddenly gained a serious tone, "Naruto..."

The blond turned also serious at his tone.

Kakashi eye smiled again and gave him a thumbs up, "Good job!"

Naruto smiled and patted him on the back as they started back towards the village. When the exited the forest, Naruto stood shocked at all the people gathered and waiting for him.

The little Katsuyu popped out the top of his jacket, "I told everyone the just of what happened."

"You did it Naruto!" shouted a kunoichi.

"Welcome home Naruto!" greeted a civilian girl.

"You're a hero!" cheered a shinobi.

"We believed in you!" cheered a section of ninja.

"Thank you Naruto!" cheered a group of civilians.

Kakashi looked over at his pupil, seeing the blond trembling. Before he could reach out the steady him as he cried tears of joy, the blond suddenly leaped high into the air and shouted, "Hell yeah! I'm back baby! And better than ever!"

He pumped his fist and took off into the air above the crowd to all their amazement. They cheered the blond as he circled around overhead with his fist held high.

"NA-RU-TO! NA-RU-TO! NA-RU-TO! NA-RU-TO!..." chanted the crowd as he did a few tricks in the air.

"The number butt-kickin shinobi has arrived! If you want a piece of Konoha, tough luck! Cause you ain't getting through me!" shouted Naruto.

This elicited another roar from the crowd, "HELL YEAH!"

Satisfied with getting his air theatrics out of his system, the blond landed and was mobbed by his friends in the crowd. Kiba pulled back Akamaru from slobbering all over his face as Sakura slowly approached him. Everyone seemingly paused to see what she was going to do as she stopped in front of him.

She lightly smacked him on the back of the head and muttered something about being to reckless before pulling him into a hug and whispering, "Thank you."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

In the forests, Madara eyes and ears on the battlefield looked to make his retreat. A mistaken assumption in his report would cost the meddling old man dearly in the near future.

"I never expected Pain to lose. Time to get out of here..." muttered the white half of Zetsu as he vanished into a tree branch in the forest outside the village.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

As the brief celebration in the middle of the flattened village started to wrap up, the higher ups in the village had already returned to the business at hand. The jonin commander Shikaku, the village council of elders, and various other officials had assembled in a meeting with the Fire Lord to determine the direction of the village following the crisis.

"We plan to continue working with the other countries towards eliminating the threat posed by the Akatsuki." informed elder Himura.

"After what has happened to the village, the land of fire will put everything we have into rebuilding it. First we need to come up with a budget...and consider the strain the cost will put on other countries..." stated the Fire Lord's treasurer.

"We need to consider something else first..." interrupted Danzo. "Who will be the next Hokage?"

"Tsunade survived didn't she? Can't we wait until she is recovered?" asked the Fire Lord.

"My Lord, she is still in a coma. We can't decide on plan for the village while she is still incapacitated for an unknown period of time." informed elder Koharu.

"Jiraiya was one of my favorites, but he is gone now." said the Fire Lord before he let out a sigh. "Who else is qualified?"

"Well..." began Danzo, but Shikaku cut him off.

"I nominate, Kakashi Hatake!" announced the jonin commander.

The Fire Lord's eyes lit up at the suggestion, "Oho! The son of the white fang, eh? I like it!" He turned to his advisers, "What do you all think?"

"He's well known and powerful..."

"He's young though..."

"Minato was appointed at a younger age..."

"Who was his teacher?"

"He was taught by the fourth hokage. He is also a teacher of young Naruto, who saved the village." replied Himura.

The Fire Lord nodded, "A very good lineage there. Jiraiya taught the fourth and Naruto. The third hokage taught Jiraiya and the fifth Hokage! No problems there..."

Danzo rose from his seat, "The third hokages teachings have as good as destroyed this village! The man who destroyed the village today was also once a student of Jiraiya. This is the result of sympathizing with other countries and giving them power. That sort of thinking is weak! It lead to sand's betrayal and Orochimaru's plan to destroy Konoha. It lead to the last Uchiha leaving our village to serve his own goals of revenge! What kind of Hokage do we need now? We need-"

"I think I will suffice just fine." interrupted a female voice.

They all turned in shock to find Tsunade entering the tent.

"Lady Tsunade!" exclaimed the Fire Lord in shock. "We were told you were in coma."

"I was until that Village Savior of ours pulled another miracle out of his pocket. Gave me a transfusion of his own chakra, and I feel like I just turned back the clock twenty years!" declared Tsunade.

_X-X-X-X-Flashback-X-X-X-X_

Naruto and Kakashi made their way into Tsunade's tent where Shizune and Sakura were attending to her. The blond had taken his Sensei aside and explained the truth behind what really happened at the end of the battle. Kakashi thought it best they consult Tsunade, and they made their way to her tent to see if she had awakened. The blond haired Hokage had definitely seen better days. Her true age was on fully display as she lied unconscious on the futon set up by Shizune.

"How is she doing?" asked Kakashi.

"She gave a lot of her chakra to Katsuyu in order to save the villagers. She's been unconscious like this ever since. I don't know when she will wake up." replied Sakura.

"Sometimes, I think she forgets how old she is." added a worried Shizune.

"I think I can help her." muttered Naruto, only Kakashi hearing what he said.

"Really?" the elite jonin whispered.

Naruto gave a slight nod towards Sakura, prompting Kakashi to subtly alert Shizune to get her to leave.

"Sakura, I've got things covered her. Why don't you go to the main medical tent see how things are going?" suggested the dark haired medic.

Sakura nodded in agreement, "She wouldn't want things bogged down on her account."

Once the pink haired medic left, Kakashi alerted the ANBU guarding to tent around to make sure no one intruded on what was about to happen.

"Until Tsunade decides otherwise once she awakens, this remains between everyone in this room." Kakashi informed Tsunade.

Naruto closed his eyes for moment and when he opened them, Shizune gasped in shock his blue eyes were replaced with his Sage-Rinnegan hybrid.

"How?" she stammered.

"There's no time to explain now." replied Naruto as he reach inside his cloak and pulled out a black chakra rod that Kakashi recognized from his battle with Pein.

"With this I can transfuse some of my own chakra into her. It should boost her own levels high enough to bring her out of this coma." stated Naruto.

Shizune aided him in inserting the rod at a major chakra point in Tsunade's right arm. Grabbing hold of the other end of the rod for an even high level on conduction, Naruto started her his chakra. Color quickly returned to her skin from the infusion and some of her aged features started to recede to her preferred more youthful appearance. As the process continued, Naruto found Tsunade's body start to pull on his chakra instead of him simply pouring it in to her. Her pull soon became so strong he was unable to break the connection. Beads of sweat poured down his face and he began to breath heavily as Tsunade ended taking much more chakra than he intended. The reason why soon became evident as the seal on forehead reformed. Soon the pull on his chakra ceased and Naruto let go of the chakra rod, nearly collapsing to the floor before Kakashi caught him.

"Geez...you're one greedy old hag." grumbled Naruto as he passed out.

The moment he did, Tsunade's eyes shot open and she sat up alert, full of energy, and completely confused.

_X-X-X-X-Flashback-End-X-X-X-X_

"Well, it seems you were wrong Danzo. The teachings of third Hokage are what have saved this village time and time again, including today. It even brought our Hokage back to full health." asserted Shikaku with a smirk.

Danzo frowned but held his tongue, the entirety of his current plans being neutralized by Tsunade's revival.

The Fire Lord nodded "Very well, with Tsunade back in fine form this discussion is now concluded. Send Jiraiya's latest pupil my regards. I'll be interested to see where he progresses from here, perhaps down the road you'll be able to retire and leave the village in his capable hands."

Tsunade smiled slyly, _'I haven't even handed out his field promotion yet, and he's already got the Fire Lord's recommendation for my seat.'_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

In the hideout housing the Gedo Mazo, the few remaining upper tier agents of gathered to figure out there next move.

"So, Naruto managed to defeat Pain?" asked Madara with Zetsu nodding in response. "Huh. I'm actually a little surprised. I knew there was a slim chance for this result, but I didn't actually expect it to happen. What about the Hokage?"

"They're still deciding who it is going to be. If Tsunade does not awaken and retain the position, Danzo will most likely seize the position." responded Zetsu.

Madara's eye lit up at the thought of that turn of events, it would be perfect for his plans, "Konan is not coming back, I'll deal with her when the time comes. We also need another pawn to sync up with Gedo Mazo."

Madara paused for a moment, as he contemplated his next move before turning to Kisame, "Kisame, you go after the eight tailed beast that Sasuke failed to retrieve. I need to go track him down before he throws a wrench in my plan. Zetsu, you continue monitoring the events in Konoha, confirm who becomed the Hokage. Come find me when you're done."

When Madara first heard word of the Five Kage Summit taking place in the Land of Iron, he was only worried about the Five Major Countries imposing sanctions and other trivial but annoying interventions against Akatsuki. This would contain their movements and activities, but that would not be a problem for him. The final stages of his plans only requiring the capture of the two remaining bijuu outside his control. Naruto's elimination of his greatest Aces, made it more imperative that he get to him now, before he became and even bigger thorn in his side. The time for sitting back in the shadows had come to an end.

The footsteps of Kisame as he exited the hideout that housed the Gedo Mazo.

"What are you going to do now?" asked Zetsu.

"Initiate the start of something spectacular." replied the masked man as a spiral contortion materialized in front of him, time and space warp to his will as he vanished to another point in the vast lands of the world.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

In Konoha, with Tsunade back up and about, things returned to some semblance of normalcy. Thanks to Naruto's Kage Bunshin man power and Yamato's Mokuton abilities, several areas were well on there way to being rebuilt. On Naruto and Kakashi's recommendation, Tsunade had called in for the aide of their old client Tazuna, who brought along Inari. The boy had followed in his grandfather's footsteps somewhat in becoming a carpenter. Despite the village being reduced to mostly rubble, Tsunade found herself with even more paperwork than usual in her tent. When she initially sat down, she thought she only need to put the stamp of approval on Naruto's field promotion to Special Jōnin thanks to his new expertise in Senjutsu. To appease the elders minds of having an elite ninja watching his back still, she assigned him as a subordinate under Kakashi. Naruto was just happy not to be a genin anymore.

"Where does it all come from?" she grumbled as she finished another stack. "It's like the only thing that survived the attack was paperwork."

Shizune stuck her head inside the tent, "Tsunade-sama..."

"Not another pile..." groaned Tsunade.

"Actually, a team of shinobi from Kumo have requested an audience with you. They have a message from the Raikage." informed Tsunade.

"At least it's not more paperwork. Bring them in." replied Tsunade.

Shizune ducked back out before returning with a trio of shinobi and stepping out again. The blond short haired woman with a chest that rivaled her own, stepped forward as the leader of the group, "I'm Samui and these are my teammates, Karui and Omoi."

They all gave a respectful bow with her introduction. The right of Samui stood Karui, a dark skinned kunoichi wearing standard Kumo shinobi attire. Her headband was styled into a bandana covering the top of the long mane of red hair flowing down her back. The dark skinned male standing to the left was Omoi. He had short spiky white hair with black eyes and the laziness of his posture while sucking on a lollypop could have give Kakashi a run for money.

"We have a letter from the Raikage." responded Samui as she stepped forward and handed Tsunade the letter.

Before she could even begin to read it they were interrupted by a loud commotion from outside the tent. Tsunade's eye twitched as she heard an all to familiar voice arguing with Shizune.

"Tsunade-sama is busy with a meeting right now." exclaimed Shizune in a firm tone.

"I don't care, this will only take a minute. I need her permission to head back to Myobokuzan and for a few other things." growled Naruto as he burst in the tent. "Yo Tsunade Baa-chan! I need your permission to-"

The blond froze at the sight of the Kumo contingent give him odd stares and Tsunade one that promised impending pain. Noticing Samui and Tsunade standing so close together, he looked back and forth between the two several times before narrowing his eyes at Tsunade and pointing an accusing finger, then thinking better of it and skipping whatever he was going to say.

The blond simple moved off to the side, "I don't feel like having to rebuild whatever it is you were going to punch me threw if I continued with that train of thought. Carry on, I can wait."

"Special Jonin, Naruto Uzumaki." informed Tsunade as she went back to reading the letter. "Sasuke Uchiha has joined Akatsuki, attacked Kumo, and kidnapped the Raikage's brother Killer Bee? Just what I need to deal with after all this..."

Tsunade watched Naruto's reaction out of the corner of his eye, and was slightly surprised to find his only reaction to be the narrowing of his eyes. Chalking the lack of an emotional explosion up to his recent 'changes', she continued reading.

_'I can't believe the bastard actually pulled it off. He shouldn't have been able to win that battle..._' thought Naruto. Thanks to his unification with Nagato, he knew a great deal of Sasuke's activities prior to Nagato's leaving for Konoha. His meeting with Itachi, his recent experiences, and his recent upgrade had seriously altered his viewpoints on his old teammate.

"He is also our sensei." added Samui in reference to Bee.

_'That explains why you three delivered the message.'_ thought Naruto. "Your sensei is a host."

Karui raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, how did you know?"

"The Akatsuki goals are to extract the tailed beasts. Doing the extraction takes time, so your sensei is most likely still alive. Especially since they lost two key members after the battle here. Since he's the host of the eight-tails, it will probably be even more difficult for them to perform the extraction." explained Naruto.

"How did you know he was the host of the eight-tails?" asked Omoi.

Naruto smirked, "They've been going in order and counting him there are only two of us left. If I hadn't kicked the ass the guy who flattened our village, they'd have the whole set."

Shock registered in the faces of the three Kumo nin, as it dawned on them that they were not only talking to the host of the kyuubi, but the guy who beat the Akatsuki leader.

_'This guy is that strong, and he's our age?'_ thought Samui.

Tsunade regathered their attention as she came to a decision, "Normally, I would take more time to deliberate over this issue, but with the state of affairs in both our villages I have no choice but to declare Sasuke Uchiha an S-class criminal and missing-nin. You have permission to hunt and terminate on site if capture is not an option."

"Thank you." replied Samui with a bow.

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow at Naruto who had remained silent with his eyes lowered towards the ground, "You have nothing to say? I just passed a death sentence on your former teammate."

This shocked the three Kumo shinobi.

Naruto looked up to her with a calm look of resolve, "Sasuke is not a simple rogue who ran off to avenge his clan any longer, he must take responsibility for his actions. Not taking a stance against him would reflect poorly on everyone in our village and incite the ire of other foreign countries if he continues to commit more crimes."

Tsunade took his mature response in stride as she moved on to the next request listed, "The Raikage has lot of nerve asking for a meeting of the Five Kage's after rejecting my previous requests for assistance in dealing with the Akatsuki...I'd like to gave that fool a piece of my fist!"

The trio of shinobi paled as they recognized the significance of their leaders rash actions.

'_Why did Raikage-sama say no to helping against Akatsuki? Bee-sensei might never have been captured...'_ thought a stunned Samui.

"Guess I'll have to settle for giving him a piece of my mind, face to face instead." stated Tsunade. "The meeting of the Five Kages is an excellent idea. I want to know what the other Kage's have been up to, while we've been busting our asses to eliminate the Akatsuki threat. The better have _very good_ explanations..."

Naruto scoffed, "Fat chance of that. Sasuke did more against the organization before he joined it than any of the other three villages combined."

"You three can have access to our records on Sasuke Uchiha." informed Tsunade.

"You're his teammate, what can you tell us about him?" asked Karui.

Naruto shrugged, "I haven't had a real battle with the guy since he left the village three years ago. The records department has more information than me on him skill wise, and everything I know should be there. There is one thing you should know though..."

The three foreigners listened closely to his next words, "He's an arrogant bastard with a stick the height of the Hokage Monument shoved up his ass."

Samui and Tsunade sweat-dropped while Karui and Omoi face-vaulted and Naruto let out a hearty laugh at their reactions._  
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_'This guy is just as crazy as Bee-sensei.'_ thought Samui. _'At least he doesn't rap everything he says...'_

The trio of Shinobi soon thanked them for their assistance and moved on to records department to gather information about Sasuke, leaving Tsunade alone with Naruto.

"So can I head back to Myobokuzan?" asked Naruto. "It won't be for long. Just a few days to work out some new things."

Tsunade nodded, "Not for too long is good, with the meeting of the five Kages I need to have you either with me at the meeting or as a deterent in the village."

"You do realize that once Akatsuki here about this meeting going down, they won't be able to pass up the opportunity." stated Naruto.

"The Five Kages will be there with elite guards, I'm sure we can handle..." she then noticed the devious grin on his face that usual formed when he was planning a massive prank. "What are you really getting at?"

Naruto's grin stretched even further, "Like I said, before they're definelty going to crash the meeting. I've got a few ideas I'd like to run by you. Let's start with this one: How would you like your own personal set of party crashers to send a message?"

An intrigued look founds its way across Tsunade's face, "Go on..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Sakura, Lee, Neji, Kiba, Shino, along with Gai, Yamato, and Kakashi had gathered at a meeting spot set by Naruto. They were waiting for the blond to arrive with Sai, so he could make whatever sort of announcement he had for his peers.

"What's the big secret, I wonder? You think their making him Hokage?" joked Kiba.

Ino scoffed, "If they'd made that loudmouth the Hokage, we'd have all heard it the moment it happened."

Lee nodded in agreement, "Yes! Naruto's flames of youth would have most definitely echoed throughout the entire village in such an event."

Shikamaru remained quiet as he puzzled the possibility of the connection between Kumo shinobi being citing in the village and meeting with the Hokage, and whatever announcement Naruto felt was so important, they needed to hear it from him. There were far too many warning signs, _'Something troublesome is about to happen...'_

Sakura was more troubled by the veil of secrecy that somehow now surrounded her teammate since the battle. She hadn't seen much of him since that day were he awakened Tsunade from her coma.

"Maybe the finally rebuilt Ichiraku's and he wants to treat everyone to ramen." offhandedly commented Shino in his usual monotone.

The only sign of amusement from the bug-user was the adjusting of his glasses as everyone around him erupted in laughter.

Kiba patted him on the shoulder, "You sure do make them count."

"As if I would treat you ungrateful heathens to Ichiraku's once it was open. I'm buying out the whole stand for me, and me alone on their grand reopening."

"I don't have much time. I'm heading back to train with the toads for a little while, so I'll make this quick." stated Naruto as he and Sai leaped down.

"Well, then get on with you it troublesome blond." grumbled Shikamaru.

Naruto paused for a moment as his visage turned serious and he cut to the chase, "I'm not going to beat around the bush on this one. I wanted you all to here this from me: Tsunade has declared Sasuke as an S-class criminal."

This set off a variety of reactions: some gasps of shock and denial, some nods of agreement, and a few grumbles of 'about time.' His next statement stunned everyone, "I agree with her decision."

Before everyone could explode, Shikamaru threw out the all important question, "What's changed?"

"All lot of things Shika. The primary change is that Sasuke attacked Kumo and captured the Raikage's brother, the host of the eight-tailed beast. He has become a member of the Akatsuki." explained Naruto.

Sakura paled in horror at the true implication of his words.

"That bastard!" snarled Kiba.

"But he couldn't have-" began Ino only for Kakashi to clear his throat to silence hers and anymore reactions.

"Please let him finish." he interjected.

Naruto gave him a slight nod of thanks before he entered into a long diatribe, "Before this, we could rationalize Sasuke's departure. His actions were all towards a singular purpose, to defeat his brother. Now, he's thrown his lot with a criminal organization that's entire purpose is to hunt down people like me. Now, this isn't a simple choice of him or me, I'm asking you. This him or the peace and safety or people across the world. If we encounter him in the battlefield and allow emotions to cloud our judgement, if we do not use everything within our power to stop him, then every life he takes, every family he ruins, every child he robs of parent, brother, or sister...it's all on us. Three of you have already lost at sensei due to the actions of Akatsuki. Three shinobi for Kumo came here today because Sasuke did the exact same thing to them. To not take a stand against him would be us being selfish because we didn't have to courage to do the right thing instead of the easy thing. His actions can no longer be explained or excused, his activities are a blight on each and everyone of us. Sasuke must take responsibility for his actions once and for all. We're not kids anymore, we have to stand on our own actions and prinicples. We've grown up and people are looking up to us now for leadership and direction. We can't afford to live in the past, when the future is at stake."

"When did he become such a good speech maker?" whispered Yamato to Kakashi.

Kakashi eye smiled as he replied, "He's always had that 'will of fire' mojo. It's in his blood."

"This is kind of a big thing to drop and you guys and leave so quickly, but I know that deep down in the hearts of each and everyone of you, you have the conviction to do what is right and protect what is most important." concluded Naruto. "I'm heading back to Myobokuzan to wrap up some lose ends. I should be back within a week, so if anyone wants to talk to me about this, you'll have to wait until then. I'll see you all soon."

He nodded to Sai and the two of them shunshinned away.

"I don't understand...I mean, weren't they best friends?" mumbled Ino.

"The key thing you said being were." quipped Shikamaru.

"He can no longer allow himself to hold back because of old bonds of friendship. Too much is at stake. To protect that is most important, sometimes sacrifices must be made." asserted Lee.

"It's quite simple really. Sasuke is finally done something that has placed himself in position where he's forced Naruto's hand. If the choice is between innocent people and people that Naruto cares about or Sasuke, then there really is no choice." added Neji.

"The first lesson I taught the three greenhorn genin of team seven, was that he who abandons his comrades is worse than trash." stated Kakashi. "Looks like I've got a little cleaning up to do."

After that it got real quiet for a few minutes before Shikamaru summed up everyone's thoughts perfectly, "Shit is about to get _real _troublesome."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The newly renamed team Taka had completed their preparations and exited their hidden base to head to Konoha. Sasuke cut their ties to the Akatsuki, their dept being paid with the capture of the eight-tailed host. The group no solely served his own ambitions. The beginnings of their journey came to an abrupt halt, however, as in the middle of the forest they were traveling through, a spiral like pattern appeared in the air. The time-space distortion rippled and spun, until Madara appeared clothed in his Tobi disguise. Sasuke's abrupt halt to face the man blocking their path startled the rest of his team.

"What's wrong Sasuke?" asked Suigestu.

Sasuke didn't respond, he continued to stare staring ahead at his ancestor.

Karin was completely taken by surprise by his arrival, it wasn't often that a man simply pops out of nowhere.

Madara offered a casual greeting as if they were meeting up for drink, "Hey, Sasuke."

"How did you know where I was?" quipped Sasuke.

Madara cocked his head to the side, "You shouldn't underestimate me. Such a task is trivial for a person with my capabilities."

Sasuke frowned, "What do you want now? Taka is no longer part of Akatsuki; we fulfilled are deal and have no further use for you."

The man's visible sharingan eyed narrowed at him as he spoke in annoyed tone, "I said I'd have to kill you if you betray Akatsuki and you failed to hold up your end of the bargain."

Sasuke gave him a puzzled look, "What are you talking about?"

"You failed to capture the Eight tailed beast, Sasuke." replied Madara.

"We did capture it! We gave it to you!" exclaimed Karin.

Madara merely stared at them quietly, agitating both Suigetsu and Juugo.

"It was a fake, nothing more than a clone. Seems the experiences host managed to pull a fast one on you. I expected better, this is totally unacceptable." responded, his voice laced with dissatisfaction. "I'm wondering if I made a mistake in utilizing, such amatuers as yourselves."

It finally clicked for Sasuke, as he recalled the tentacle that he severed during the fight with the Eight Tails could have contained Killer Bee. His inattention to detail had cost him.

Suigetsu wasn't buying it, "What do you want us to do about it? It's not our business anymore; since we did your part of the bargain you do it yourselves!"

Madara dismissed his outburst, "No. You still owe me. You will finish your last job as part of Akatsuki. Forget about the Eight Tails, I already sent someone to capture him. There's something else I want all of you to do."

Sasuke crouched into attack position while asking, "What if I said no?"

Madara's voice regained that nonchalant tone, "Then I won't let you get to Konoha. You can't defeat me."

Lightning sprung up around his Sasuke's hand as the chidori sparked to life, "I'll force my way through!"

Sasuke closed the gap between him and Madara in the blink of eye, with Sasuke's hand already outstretched towards Madara's chest. However, just as it seemed Sasuke had plundged the attack into his chest, he found himself phasing right through Madara.

Madara ignored the assault as he casually informed, "It's a little too late to go to Konoha now. You're goal is futile now. Too bad for you. Konohagakure no longer exists. My minion, Pain destroyed the village."

Sasuke halted in shock from the revelation, he couldn't believe it. Someone had stolen his amibition. He could feel his malice and fury building up within, rising like tides smashing against the shore. Sasuke hand shot down towards Kusanagi as he prepared to slit Madara's throat, be he stopped when a green plant with jagged patterns in the middle rose up from the branch that Madara stood on.

"Who the hell is this guy?" asked a supsicious Suigestu as he reached for his blade.

"Calm down… He's with me." reassured Madara before he turned to Zetsu. "So who's the new Hokage?"

"At first it seemed as if Danzo was going to become Hokage, but then something else happened." reported Zetsu. "It seems Tsunade's condition is improving faster than expected and they were going to wait for her. However, I found it that this is more of Danzo's machinations. He's the Hokage, but he's trying to keep the target off his back with this Tsunade stuff as misdirection."

Madara had been staring at Sasuke, just waiting for his reaction and he was not dissapointed. He sensed the rise of killing intent coming from Sasuke, and smiled under his mask about.

"I figured this would happen." muttered Madara.

"So, Danzo is the Hokage?" asked Sasuke for clarification.

Madara shrugged, "It's just speculation at this point. If Tsunade is able to resume her duties, he is the most probable candidate to seize control of the situation with Jiraiya already removed from the equation. He's also the one responsible for making your brother execute his plan. And you know his reward? He's Hokage."

Sasuke chakra flared as he clenched Kusanagi in his right hand.

With the pot set to a boil, Madara stirred it up even more, "Because you and Pain have cause so much trouble, the Five Kages had begun to move. They're about to hold a meeting."

Sasuke remained silent at this informatiuon.

Zetsu picked up from where Madara left off, "You see, Pain, took it upon himself to capture the Nine Tailed Host and we let him. Take into mind that Pain was probably our strongest member. He took control of Amegakure by defeating Salamander Hanzo. He can do a jutsu that can take out an entire village."

"**Yeah, he could probably kick your asses without a problem!" **added Zetsu's black half.

"But when Pain had invaded Konoha, he terrorized the village and destroyed most of it. He wiped out a lot of their forces and now Konoha is in ruins. However, Pain was defeated by one person, who showed up late to the battle." continued white Zetsu.

Sasuke suddenly knew exactly, who it was. He knew only one person in Konoha, who would show up at the last moment and pull a victory out of his ass.

"**He lost to Uzumaki Naruto, the nine tailed host. He could definetly kick your asses. Too bad we have to kill that guy, he's fun!" **informed black Zetsu**  
><strong>

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow at this, "So this Naruto defeated Pain all by himself? He must be pretty good."

"That's right, he's gotten pretty strong, he's definetly stronger than Sasuke." quipped Zetsu.

The Uchiha brushed off the idea, "I don't care about that nonsense, the five kages are the problem."

"Well, what are you going to do then Sasuke? Danzo's your target right? Konoha is pretty much decimated. If Danzo is going to that meeting, shouldn't we just go after him there?" suggested Suigestu.

Sasuke was giving it some serious consideration, he couldn't fathom passing up an opportunity to go head to head with the five Kages. Karin was on the complete opposite side of thinking, in actually thinking logically. She couldn't fathom considering the opportunity to take on the five Kages. It was a suicide mission.

"Change of plans, we're going to the meeting to kill the five Kages." firmly declared Sasuke.

_'I can't believe this was so easy. He's arrogant and headstrong, does he actually thing he stands a chance against one Kage, let alone five?'_ thought Madara as he laughed inwardly at Sasuke's stupidity.

Karin couldn't believe they were planning on facing the top ninjas of each of the Five Major Villages. The plan was utterly insane, facing all five of them in one place is total suicide. This is without counting any bodyguards they might bring that could be Kage level. Unfortunaetly for her, Madara encouraged Sasuke's hair brained idea in order to fulfill his own agenda.

Karin didn't like where this was going, but went along with it despite her better instincts, "So where is this meeting?"

Madara signaled for Zetsu to lead them and he did as commanded. The jagged pattern of the leaf part of his body split, revealing the full figure of Zetsu's body separated in black and white. To their horror and surprise and it kept on splitting, tearing him into two halves right down the middle.

Juugo and Suigetsu gagged and nearly rethced at the utterly disgusting white half form of Zetsu. After giving them a moment to gather themselves, thewhite half lead the members of Taka to their new target.

Juugo wasn't so sure about going along with Madara, "Can we trust them, Sasuke?"

Sasuke smirked, "Let's just see what happens, if he tries anything funny I'll use Amaterasu on him. I've got something new I've want to test out anyway."

Back with Madara and Black Zetsu, the Uchiha contemplated his new found pain in the ass, Naruto Uzumaki. While Black Zetsu had a could laugh at Sasuke,** "I can't believe he bought that Danzo is the Hokage bullshit! Now he's headed off to get his ass kicked by the Five Kages! I hope that Naruto kid is one of Tsunade's guards. Getting beaten up by him before you saved his ass would really fuck with his head."**

Madara shrugged, "He's not a very good with plans, has too much tunnel vision. He's a good tool when you give him the proper motivation. I still can't believe Nagato used Rinne Tensei like that. That was supposed to be reserved for me, what a betrayal! That Uzumaki Naruto, he's thrown a wrench into my plans. Guess, I have to the brat who's he really dealing with. Zetsu, it's time to step up, and finally let the world know what we are truly aiming for. Time for the 'Moon's Eye Plan' to come into fruition."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto's last letter or business before he departed back to the home of the Toads, was a visit with the leader of root. Using Sai as a go between, he got the approval to meet with the old war hawk. He and Sai currently stood a top the thirds head waiting for him to arrive.

"That must have been some hell of team..." murmured Naruto.

Sai gave him a questioning look, "Team?"

"Old man third, your boss, a couple other legends, and they were all lead by the Nidaime. That's some serious talent packed all into one team." responded Naruto.

"Yes it was. You new generation shinobi just don't stack up with what we had back then." added Danzo as he arrived with his guard.

Naruto smirked, "Yeah, you guys were all elite level at like the age of ten. I could barely pick my own nose at the age of ten."

"What brings you to seek my humble council?" asked Danzo as he dismissed his guard.

"I know you've got an assorted list of skeletons in your closet." began Naruto.

Danzo chuckled, "Nothing that can be proven of course, all speculation at best."

"I also know the old man wouldn't have let you meddle around for so long if you didn't serve a purpose." continued Naruto. "You probably have a lot of plans your trying to enact since you didn't seize the Hokage seat."

"What is it you want?" asked Danzo, cutting right to the heart of the matter.

"I have a proposition for you..." Danzo's eyes widened at his next words, "How would you like to trade up a couple of those Sharingan you're hiding?"

After a moment of pause, the old war veteran smirked, "I figured you come here in asking for discrete assistance in retrieving your friend, and here you are serving him up to me on a silver platter!"

"You misunderstand, I have other plans for Sasuke. I want your aide in retrieving the corpse of Uchiha Itachi. In exchange you can have the eyes, and knowledge of the true leader of Akatsuki." replied Naruto.

Danzo raised an eyebrow, "That's all?"

"Oh yeah, and less meddling within the borders. More meddling outside our borders to help with this Akatsuki thing." quickly added Naruto.

Danzo grinned, "You've changed. I would have never taken you as the type of person to negotiate with the likes of me. I'll go in on this little operation if you answer me this: Why do you want the corpse of Uchiha Itachi?"

Naruto face formed a devious grin that indicated a massive prank was about to be unleashed on someone, "Let's just say I'm walking a new path..."

* * *

><p><strong>Next time: The Assembling of the Five Kages!<strong>

A/N: There it is! My latest idea that wouldn't leave me alone. A little clarification, the unification of Naruto/Nagato is based on Namekian style fusion from DBZ. So he is still mostly Naruto, with Nagato lurking around inside his mind somewhere. The biggest result from this is the merger of their powers, resulting in something completely radical. The lead up to and events of the 4th great shinobi war will be...we'll you'll have to keep reading to find out!

For those of you curious about pairings, some selection from or combination of this group: Mei, Konan, Anko, and Samui. He possible short flings with a couple other girls that don't amount to much before he gets serious with anybody. These girls do not include Sakura or Hinata. No romance in those two directions at all.


	2. The Five Kages Assemble!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

* * *

><p><strong>The Five Kages Assemble!<strong>

From the rich lands of Myōbokuzan, Gamabunta and Gamakichi engaged in the age old toad father-son bonding ritual of chucking massive heavy boulders at their summoners. Unfortunately for them, Naruto's new aerial skills made him nearly impossible to hit. The blond took great pleasure in making a mockery of them after all the previous torture he had to endure. Occasionally, he'd even catch a boulder and chuck it right back at them.

"You know, this was a lot more fun when he couldn't fly. At least then we got to smash the shadow clones." whined Gamakichi.

Bunta let out a hearty chuckle, "You should have seen his father and he learned that flying thunder god move of his. He'd taunt us by the teleporting from boulder to boulder as we threw them."

"What did you do get am him then?" asked Kichi.

The chief toad shrugged, "Nothing. I just went back to chucking stuff at Jiraiya."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A week passed by quickly bringing the Kage Summit to the forefront. The leaders of the five major villages all left their homes to began the trek to the land of iron. As Tsunade finished donning her robes and picked up her Kage hat, a disgruntled Shikaku entered the tent serving as her office with a frown on his face. Tsunade grinned as the Nara mumbled complaints about his new troublesome responsibilities.

"Why the long face? You get to be in charge of everyone!" taunted Tsunade.

He rolled his eyes, "No offense Hokage-sama, but this is the most troublesome job ever. The only thing good about it is that it gets me away from home."

"Oh, no worries there. Since, Shizune is busy running the medical tent, I found you the perfect assistant." replied Tsunade with a smirk.

Right on cue, Yoshino burst into the tent carrying a stack of paperwork, "You go no time to be standing around, Dear! There are four more stacks after this one, and a meeting with the treasury representatives about the budget once you are done with that. Now get that lazy butt moving! Go, go, go!"

As Tsunade exited while laughing all the way, the dark haired Jonin Commander's shoulders slumped at the realization he wouldn't be able to escape the nagging. Trying to find a bright spot in his predicament, his mind wandered to the possibilities of perhaps receiving some stress relief from his assistant for dealing with the burden of being in charge of the village.

Yoshino seemingly read his mind as she whacked him across the back of the head, "Not until we get home, and that's only if you finish all your work today."

When Tsunade exited her tent, she found Kakashi and Gai waiting for her prepared for their journey. The fell into step with her on the way to the North Gate.

"I hope both of you are prepared for what might happen at the Kage summit." stated Tsunade.

"The gathering of the Five Kages is the type of event not even the Akatuski can ignore." replied Kakashi.

Gai nodded, "The is their prime chance to disrupt the meetings and kill even one of the Kage to sow distrust among the villages. A united front against their organization is something they do not want to see."

"We are prepared to face them and protect the integrity of this meeting at all costs." declared Kakashi.

"I expect nothing less from the both of you, however, certain counter measures have already been taken." she replied while handing them a both briefing scroll.

"Isn't this a bit risky? It technically violates the good faith of the meeting." questioned Gai.

Kakashi shook his head as they both destroyed the scrolls, "Maybe, but it also puts us in a good position to be the central hub in calling the shots in the event of an alliance. No one can question a record in battling the organization, and this type of action will put it on full display to the other Kages."

"We can't afford to play by the old rules anymore. It's what has gotten us into this mess in the first place." stated Tsunade as they reached the village gates and she placed her hat on. A crowd of shinobi and civilians had gathered to see them off.

"Be careful, Hokage-sama…"

"Please take care."

"Come back safe!"

"Show those other Kage's who's boss!"

"Gai-san, Kakashi-san, please guard her well."

Tsunade gave a small wave of acknowledgement to the crowd.

Kakashi already had his reading in hand, "Mah, we'll be fine."

Gai gave a proud nod, "We won't let anything happen to her."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A stood proudly facing the window of his office, his hulking physique on full display thanks to the lack of a shirt. The man had a unique style with his black Fūma Shuriken tattoos on both shoulders, gold bracelets on each wrist, and the gold belt around his waist with a boar's face engraved in the center. If it wasn't for his Kage cloak and hat, one might confuse the man being for a body builder or professional wrestler instead of the Raikage.

"We haven't heard back anything else from Samui's team yet, so they will most likely meet you on the road, or at the Summit." informed his assistant.

"Good, good." He replied with a nod. "Alright! Everything is set...Let's do this!"

A turned to his two guards, "Shi! Darui!"

He clapped his massive hands together, generating a mini shock-wave before he launched himself through the window of his office. Glass, wood trim, and plaster from the wall flew everywhere as he left a massive hole in his wake. Shi and Darui shook their heads while his assistant let out a depressed sigh.

"He does this every time he gets exited." she groaned.

Darui shrugged, "Well, considering where we're going, it's not surprising."

"How much property damage do think he's gonna cause on his way out the village?" asked Shi.

Darui snorted, " A hundred thousand, at least!"

Shi shrugged and stepped towards the window, "You coming?"

Darui looked at him like he was crazy, "And get blamed and have to pay for damage too? I'll take the stairs."

"Good point." remarked Shi as he followed behind him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Gaara looked across the desert sands facing the all people there to see him off as a gentle breeze caressed his face. Sometimes, it still amazed him that his people were so supportive of him.

"Please take care of yourself, Gaara-sama…"

"Temari-san, Kankurou-san, please take good care of Kazekage-sama."

Temari waved towards all the people as her cloak flapped in the breeze, "We will!"

Kankurou let out a snort of amusement, "As if he needs bodyguards anyway. I hope Lady Hokage brings that Naruto guy with her. He should be good for at least one international incident to break the ice."

Although his face didn't show it much, Temari noticed a glint of excitement in Gaara's eyes at the possibility of his friend being there.

"All right..." Gaara turned back to the vast desert in front of them. "Let's go."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Please take care of yourself and do us proud." stated an elder of the Mist Village as he placed the hat of the Mizukage into the hands of its rightful bearer. The man's hands shook uncontrollably due to his Parkinson's disease, but he paid it no mind. Everyone in watching was in awe of his dedication to village, doing so much in spite of his illness.

"Don't let anything go wrong." he added while grasping onto the snake ornamented staff in his other hand.

The beautiful Mei Terumi gave him a warm smile as she held onto the hat, "I swear in my honor as Mizukage, I will fulfill my duty to the best of my ability."

The old man then turned to her escorts, "Ao, Choujuro, please guard Mizukage-dono well."

"I-I won't fail… Probably." nervously replied the boy holding a very large sword the shape of a dried fish on his back.

"Don't be so humble, Choujuro, you're strong, you're a member of the seven!" replied the Elder as he adjusted his glasses.

"Have faith in yourself, Choujuro, you're strong." The Mizukage praised her bodyguard with a smile to put his nerves at ease. "That is the reason you were chosen to be one of my guards, ok Choujuro?"

Choujuro blushed and nodded at her with a smile.

"Bah, you kids today… Why can't you just say 'Yes, ma'am!'? We don't need you spouting on about, 'I'll do my best!' be a man, Choujuro! Grow a damn spine!" Ao exclaimed with a shake of his head.

Choujuro nodded as if he was attentively listening to the man, but all he heard was something along the lines off, _'You young whipper-snappers get off my lawn!'_

Even less of his rant registered with Mei, who only heard a few bits in pieces that reminded her she didn't have a man in her life and was passing the prime age for finding a husband.

The redhead turned to her guard with a deceptively sweet smile as she leaked massive killing intent. Her words and intentions belied her pleasant tone, "Ao...shut up or I'll kill you!"

Ao looked puzzled by her threat, but remained silent. He still couldn't understand why the Mizukage always said that to him and only him. Often times when he barely said anything. It was usually the result of him saying something about a man, but he would never use the 'm' word. He new that day he uttered that word he would surely die. Though he could see how she could have a little trouble finding the right man with her being the Mizukage and having that other side to her sweet personality that scared the shit out of any man.

Mei ignored the chilly winds blowing all around her as she thought about her man problems. It just seemed utterly impossible to find the right man. Some were intimidated, others only cared for her looks, or even worse were simply perverts. Perhaps, getting out the village would be the solution and her luck with change with a man in iron country.

_'A strong bold man, yet not to insecure to be intimated by me. Perhaps a nice man who had a strong mother or sister figure to whip him into shape! Oh, and a little spontaneity would be nice...and being cute too...no more than cute, ruggedly handsome. Don't need some pretty-boy trying to be prettier than me, never going down that road again...'_

Her train of thought caused a certain blond in the land of toads to sneeze and freeze in midair. Gamakichi made sure not to miss on the opportunity._  
><em>

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Akatsuchi! Kurotsuchi! Please take good care of Tsuchikage-sama!"

"Show them what you got!"

The short old man let out a sigh as he cradled his aching hip, "Ah, it's troublesome for someone my age to go to a meeting this far away. You youngsters just don't understand how your hip becomes a virtual time bomb!"

The kunoichi of the group, dressed in standard Iwa Jounin attire smirked at him, "Why don't retire you then gramps? You can't really rely on your former glory forever."

The last and largest of the trio, a plump man towering over the other two, let loose a hearty laugh as leaned down to his superior, "I'll carry your luggage and take a load off your shoulders, Tsuchikage-sama."

The stubborn old geezer lashed out at the man with his staff and a shout, "Don't touch, Akatsuchi! I don't need your help!"

The old man then placed the saddles with his luggage to his shoulders and lifted, causing a loud sickening crack to resonate throughout the area that both escorts flinched at.

"OOOOOOOOHHHH! My hips! AAH! OOOOOHHH!" The old man cried out in agony as he shook from the sudden gush of unpleasant nerves indicating he should probably stay home. It was only his pride as the Tsuchikage that prevented him from collapsing to the ground from the agony.

Kurotsuchi was barely able to hold back her laughter at the sight of him, "So, does this mean you'll send someone in your place?"

The old man managed to give a sharp reply despite his groans of pain, "What are you saying! I'm goddam the Tsuchikage! Fearsome leader of Iwagakure! I'll carry my own damn luggage!"

Kurotsuchi pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance, "Stubborn old ass."

Akatsuchi suddenly lifted up the old man with ease, luggage and all, "Alright, carry your own luggage then, let's go!"

The old man couldn't really deny such a request. A free ride is all that he needed to ease the pain on his back. With this rest, by the time he got to the Summit, the other Kage's won't know what hit them!

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The five traveling parties of the five villages leaders faced no disturbances and delays in their routes to Iron Country. The representatives of Kumo, Iwa, and Kiri completed the journey spanning several days at roughly the same time. The mediator welcomed them into the meeting sight and the leaders and guards moved to their proper locations to await the arrival remaining to groups. Despite facing no troubles in route to the Summit, this did not mean trouble was not already waiting for them. The heavily cloaked members of Team Taka braved the harsh winter climate of Iron country as they scoped out the arriving parties for their target.

Juugo stroked a Snowl owl that landed on his arm, "There's an open path in the west with few guards."

"Good. As soon as Karin locates Danzo, we're moving." ordered Sasuke. He then turned Zetsu, "Tell me what Danzo looks like and don't lie to me."

Karin couldn't believe she was actually taking part in this, _'This is bat-shit crazy! We're attack the summit of the Kages for him to kill one guy. A guy that who he's never met and doesn't even know what he looks like!'_

Zetsu grinned at Sasuke, "No worries about that. Danzo is not one our people."

The Uchiha nodded and returned to his natural state of brooding, _'Soon, you will taste my hatred Danzo! You will pay for what you've done!'_

Zetsu smirked at him once he turned his back, _'What a fool...'_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Tsunade and her guards arrived at the large building housing the meeting at the same time as Gaara and his siblings. The two parties entered and the guards separated from their leaders to head to the top level. The Hokage and Kazekage joined the other three Kages in the meeting room, all seated around a large curved table. Their guards could be seen overlooking on the top level, each pair positioned to make sure they were ready to intercept any move made on their Kage.

Tsunade lowered her hat to back to get a look in the faces of her fellow leaders. Recognition passed across the faces of the Tsuchikage and Raikage, both knowing the resume of Tsunade. Tsunade gave a slight nod to the Mizukage, inwardly pleased to have another female at the table. Gaara being the youngest Kage, was greeted with appraising looks by the other three, each trying to see how he stacked up against the rest.

"I am glad that you could make it, Hokage-dono, Kazekage-dono." greeted the mediator, a dark haired older man. "If you would, please take your seat."

Tsunade and Gaare nodded as they took their respective seats. Tsunade found herself seated in the middle of the meeting, a curtain with the kanji for Fire hanging up behind her. On her far right was the Mizukage, who gave her a respectful nod. In between the Mizukage and Tsunade was Gaara. To her direct left sat the old Tsuchikage and his distinguished nose. Rounding out the table to her far left was the Raikage. A high banner with the insignia of their villages was raised behind the seats of each Kage.

The mediator that greeted them upon entrance sat down at the front to being the proceedings, "Good day, I am Mifune, the leader of the Land of Iron, I will represent as the mediator of this meeting. I would like for everyone to introduce themselves."

Everyone gave a nod and Mei lead them off.

"Mei Terumi, Godaime Mizukage!"

"Gaara, Godaime Kazekage!"

"Tsunade Senju, Godaime Hokage!"

"Ōnoki, Sandaime Tsuchikage!"

"A, Yondaime Raikage!"

Mifune nodded as he finished, "Now we commence the start of the summit."

Tsunade started things off, "I'd like to begin by saying that the fact that it has taken this long for some of you to confront the threat of the Akatsuki is an embarrassment. Eight of the Tailed beasts had already been captured and Akatsuki has already amassed enough fire power to take down any single country it sets it sights on. The only way for us to counter-attack this organization now is to use a massive joint military exercise to end their ambitions once and for all. This is how dangerous the Akatsuki has become."

Gaara nodded in agreement with her assessment, "I've sent requests for aid to the other Major villages countless times, but they were all ignored except by the Hokage."

The Tsuchikage frowned at Gaara, thinking the inexperienced Kage needed a lesson in politics, "Humph, if a country had its host captured then it has no business giving other countries orders, it's an embarrassment to the village. If you had lost your host, then why didn't you try to recover it in secret? Once it's stolen you can't expect other countries to help you."

Gaara was not phased by him, "Your response belies both your ignorant and antiquated way of thinking. It is better to have the tailed beast powers in possession of the known and responsible entities that are hidden villages, than accumulated by some outside group of terrorists who desire to destroy the delicate balance of power between the villages."

Tsunade picked up were Gaara left off, "Did you try and recover your hosts once they were lost?"

The pompous elder frowned at the granddaughter of the first Hokage, "No. The first Jinchuuriki we had, Roushi, retired from Shinobi duty more than ten years ago. Since then, he has secluded himself and alluded most of my actions to retrieve him. Han vanished three years ago on a mission from Numa no Kuni. Han was a very dangerous subject, he was far too unstable. Instead he became a liability for the village. I couldn't very well exhaust time and money on a very unstable man. In times of peace most hosts are nothing more than liabilities."

Knowing the situation of the Kazekage, Mei shook her head, _'Wrong move, old man...'_

To her surprise it wasn't Gaara, who interjected but Tsunade, "The nine-tailed host has saved my village countless times in these times of 'peace'. His latest solo effort resulted in the elimination of the possible leader and most powerful member of Akatsuki after he attacked our village. If it weren't for his continuous efforts Konoha wouldn't exist right now. He is not a liability, he is our greatest guardian."

Onoki scoffed, "We'll maybe you just got lucky with a decent host. I stand by what I said."

Gaara sighed, "So what? We just allow the tailed beasts to fall into the hands of anyone who want to take them, because they are inconvenient. That's just lazy thinking."

"Just because the beasts have been stolen is no reason to be afraid. It takes time and knowledge and skill to be able to control them." interjected the Mizukage, trying to calm everyone.

"They aren't trying to control the beasts. According to my sources they've been sealing them all away together to create some sort of weapon of mass destruction." informed Tsunade.

Onoki wasn't buying it, "Bah! A pipe dream at best. There's no way to control all that power at once."

The Raikage, who had been silent until now, had run out of patience and rose from his seat, his shaking arms barely containing his fury. He proceeded to smash a part of the table in front of him to make his anger and frustrations known. The guards all jumped down to the defense of their leaders in response, every weapon drawn, fist cocked, and bloodline activated.

The mediator intervened, "I suggest you refrain from unnecessary actions. We came here for discussion, not to put on such barbaric displays."

Tsunade had paid no mind to the Raikage and ordered her men to stand down, "Kakashi, Gai, back down."

Kakashi lowered his headband and Gai relaxed. They opted to simply stand behind the Hokage, instead of returning to the upper levels.

"Temari, Kankurou, that's enough." ordered Gaara. His siblings let out sighs of annoyance, before following the actions of their Konoha counterparts and dropping back behind their brother.

Mei waved at her guards, "It's alright Ao and Choujuro."

The pair of Kiri shinobi fell in line with others and positioned themselves behind their leader. Onoki signaled to his guards to relax. With a nod they followed suit and moved behind him. Darui and Shi did the same, stepping behind the Raikage who had yet to calm down.

"I didn't call this meeting to talk about the Tailed Beasts! I called all of you here to know where your loyalties lie exactly! Konoha, Iwa, Suna and Kiri!" bellowed A as he pointed an accusing finger at his fellow Kages. "The Akatsuki is made up of missing nin from all your villages, but that's not all!"

He turned his glare on Onoki, "I know there are those among you, including former Kages, who have used Akatsuki for their own, proposes!"

He sneered at Mei, "Kirigakure you are the most suspicious! You have no diplomatic relations with other countries and there are rumours that Akatsuki was formed there."

The redhead frowned, "To be honest, there are suspicions that my predecessor, the Yondaime Mizukage, was being controlled by someone. It's possible it could have been Akatsuki, but I'm not going to make a big deal out of it."

A dismissed her explanation and turned his attention on Gaara and Tsunade, "And you-"

"_Enough!_" Tsunade didn't raise her voice, but her chilly tone got the message across. "If the only reason you called this meeting for was you to stand and make accusations, then this is a waste of time. I have sent out warnings and requests for aid against this threat that you rejected! The only reason you are up in arms now is because your own brother was captured. The Akatsuki had taken the lives of countless shinobi from my village, including my teammate Jiraiya. I have been making preparation and putting my people on the frontlines to counter this threat, while the majority of you have turned a blind eye. If they had been taken seriously from the beginning, we wouldn't be in this predicament right now."

"Other countries wouldn't have needed to use Akatsuki if you didn't amass your military forces! Your country caused panic when reports of your brother, being sealed with the Hachibi, and another host for the Nibi!" added the Tsuchikage.

Tsunade nodded in agreement, "Not to mention your countries countless attempts to steal no only bloodlines, but also the previous nine-tailed host from my village. It's difficult for you to take the moral high ground, when the past actions of your village have been just as corrupt as the Akatsuki."

A frowned, but held his tongue. Despite some of the actions not being on his record as the Raikage, he could do nothing to refute their statements.

"I was wondering, since your host defeated the leader of Akatsuki, shouldn't that have dealt a crippling blow to the organization? They should be easier to handle now." suggested Mei.

Tsunade shook her head, "No, because the man he defeated was only the face of the Akatsuki. While powerful in his own right, he was not the leader. The true leader of Akatsuki is-"

Before she could reveal Madara's name, white Zetsu shot up from the center of the table making the Kages and their guards all shift into battle ready stances.

"Hiya everybody!" gleefully exclaimed the white half of Zetsu.

"One problem after another! Now what?" growled A in frustration.

"About time you Akatsuki punks showed up." impassively stated Tsunade.

"Of course they would appear here. There's no way they could pass up this type of opportunity." muttered Gaara.

"Sasuke Uchiha is here somewhere…the question is where?" taunted Zetsu. "Let's all search for Sasuke! Come On! Let's Go!"

"The one who killed Haku and Zabuza?" muttered Ao.

"Actually, I was the one who killed Haku. Zabuza was killed from his wounds as he massacred a bunch of thugs. The real credit for both of their defeats should go to Naruto Uzumaki my other student." informed Kakashi.

Ao let out a whistle of appreciation, "You had an Uchiha and an Uzumaki? Some team."

The Raikage ran out of patience and leaped over the table, grabbing Zetsu by the throat, "TELL ME WHERE SASUKE UCHIHA IS RIGHT NOW!"

"The answer is...somewhere!" mocked Zetsu.

"You fool! Wasting my time!" snarled the Raikage as he knocked him unconscious. "Shi! Darui! Let's move!"

"Yes sir!" they replied.

"Wait! We could have interrogated him and gotten some information out of him." suggested Mei.

"Interrogation is useless for these kinds of people. Unless they want you to know something, they won't tell you anything." stated Gaara.

Mifune turned to his own guards and started dishing out orders, "Okisuke, Urakaku give the order for everyone to search Sasuke. If possible do not engage until the Raikage arrives."

They nodded, "Right away, sir."

The Raikage stepped over towards the wall and punched right through it, creating a massive hole, "Shi! Darui! Rollout!"

Darui turned back and scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Sorry about the damage. Raikage-sama gets a little exited at the prospect of battle."

"Hurry up, Darui!" Shi yelled at him as he leaped through the hole.

"A little excited?" Onoki scoffed at the notion. "That man was an unruly brat long before he ever became the Raikage. Hasn't changed a bit."

Kakashi turned to Tsunade, "Hokage-sama."

She acquiesced to his unspoken request, "Go on."

He turned and followed after the Raikage and his guards. He caught up to them quickly. A growled in annoyance when he recognized who was tagging along.

"I hope your not here to talk me out of eliminated your old pupil." growled the Raikage.

"I have no such intentions. He is no longer a student of mine." declared Kakashi as he revealed his sharingan in preparation for battle. "In these eyes he is worse than trash."

"Good! Shi! How far away is he!" barked A.

"Keep going straight for now. He's bellow us, so eventually we'll have to go down a few levels." replied the jonin.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The Samurai had immediately mobilized on Mifune's command, alerting team Taka that their presence was known.

"They know we're here. What do you want to do Sasuke?" asked Karin.

"I'll handle it." he replied as the room they were in suddenly filled with dozens of Samurai. Sasuke chuckled darkly as he took them all on head on with Kusanagi. Each warrior fell with ease to his blade as he made quick work of sending them to their deaths. No sooner than did the last Samurai fall, did the Raikage and his crew burst through the ceiling. Once the dust cleared, the hulking Kage discarded his cloak and leveled Sasuke with a look of pure rage.

"I'LL TEACH YOU TO FEAR MY WRATH BRAT!" bellowed the enraged leader of Kumo.

Sasuke gave no reaction to his outburst, charging straight a head with the Kusanagi unsheathed and leaping high into the air.

Juugo couldn't be leave he was engaging alone, "DON'T RUSH IN ALONE!"

Sasuke didn't listen and he came down swinging his blade. Darui laid in wait, completing a chain of hand seals, **"Suiton: Suijinheki!"** (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall).

A large water wall shot out of his mouth, rising high to block Sasuke. The Uchiha hit the water wall and found himself unable to move. Darui then followed up with the second jutsu of his combination, **"Raiton: Kangekiha!"** (Lightning Release: Wave of Inspiration).

Lightning traveled through the water wall electrocuting Sasuke and flinging him back towards Juugo and the others. The Uchiha managed to flip in midair, landing feet first and sliding back along the guard until he stopped next to Juugo.

"Looks like you and your village weren't holding out on us at all, Kakashi. He's definitely lightning based." informed Darui as Sasuke poured lightning chakra into the Kusanagi.

The copy ninja nodded, "He also likes to use fire too."

"Then he'll probably follow up this next attack with a Katon. Darui be ready to use another Suiton." ordered Shi.

Juugo cursed under his breath, "Shit. Not only do we get a pair of Kumogakure Jonins, but Copy Nin Kakashi and the Raikage as well. This may not end well..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

High above the snow packed clouds of Iron Country hovered Naruto, as he waited for the right moment to make his presence known. He had made some slight alterations to his outfit since the battle with Nagato. He transformed the sage cloak into cape with a high collar that shielded the bottom half of his face and weighted shoulder padding. Beneath he sported a black flack jacket with the Uzumaki spirals sown into the shoulders and back. Underneath the jacket was a thin long sleeved black shirt with orange trim. Black cargo pants, black shinobi sandals, a pair of dark orange metal plated gloves and an orange waist sash completed his new Special Jonin attire. The blond hovered in a meditative position with his eyes closed until one of his clones hidden within the meeting site dispelled, alerting him to Akatsuki's interference.

"And here we...go!" Naruto whispered to himself as his sharp blue eyes opened. Releasing the hold he had over his chakra to conceal himself, he rocketing down towards the ground planning on plowing right through anything in his way to get to where he needed to go.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sasuke appeared to be roughed up a bit with his Mangekyō activated, but not nearly as worn down as one would have expected him to be. He had nearly caught the Raikage by surprise with the flames of Amaterasu, only for Kakashi to teleport the attack away with his own Mangekyō's Kamui.

The Raikage stood opposite him, breathing heavily, not expecting Sasuke to be so difficult to defeat. Their respective allies had moved to cover their flanks, allowing the two to go head to head. Their battle was interrupted as Karin suddenly sensed something shocking.

"Someone's coming! Someone powerful! I can't believe this! I've never felt a chakra like this before, it's completely radical!" she exclaimed.

The possibility of new better challenge put a hold to Sasuke's desires to unleash Amaterasu again on the Raikage. The Raikage, Shi, and Darui all gasped in shock as they suddenly felt the massive chakra signature that was so big even non-sensors could feel i's presence.

"What is it! It's mind-boggling!" exclaimed A.

Shi pointed up towards the high ceiling, "It's coming from above us! It's a person!"

"I've never felt a power like this! It's outrageously strong, almost like a tailed beast!" shouted the Raikage. "I could be a new enemy, another Akatsuki! Stay on guard!"

A sneered formed across Sasuke's face as he felt the incoming intruder get closer and closer. For some reason, this familiar radical presence set him edge. They could hear the incoming signature blasting through several floors on their way down.

Kakashi's eyes widened in shock as he realized who it was. He expected a flashy arrival, but nothing like this, "This is incredible..."

Right as he said this another hole blasted through the ceiling and the mysterious figure appeared.

"What! I don't believe it! It's the Yondaime Hokage!" bellowed A.

Everyone gasped in shock at that revelation.

Kakashi quickly corrected him, "No, it's Naruto Uzumaki!"

Everyone could now see the whiskered face, and spiky blond locks blowing back in the wind from the blond that apparently soared in from the skies. He halted just in front of the hole he made before suddenly vanishing.

"Hey, where'd he go?" muttered Suigetsu.

"He's behind you, Sasuke!" yelled Karin.

Everyone turned to face the latest arrival. Naruto stood at medium distance behind team Taka with his sage cape and the wraps of his headband billowing behind him in a dramatic fashion. His arms were crossed in front of his chest, he appeared to be looking upon them all impassively. However, he was only staring into the eyes of one person. Sasuke met his gaze with a stoic one of his own as time seemed to freeze for a moment.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The remaining guards and Kage's in meeting room had all senses the arriving presence of Naruto.

"It's Naruto Uzumaki." announced Gaara. Despite some changes, he would recognize that chakra anywhere.

"Yosh! His flames of youth have grown even more since his battle with the Akatsuki leader if we feel him from this far away!" exclaimed Gai.

Ao's jaw dropped as he used his Byakugan, "This is unbelievable! He's like Kisame, he has the chakra presence of a Bijuu!"

Tsunade smirked, "About time he showed up."

"You were expecting the arrival of another one of your shinobi? After we all agreed upon two guards? Shows you how trustworthy Konoha is." remarked Onoki.

Tsunade wasn't having any of his lip, "You all knew that there was a good chance of Akatsuki crashing this Summit. I was the only one with the foresight to do something about it. He wasn't here for the meeting, he was here for them. To beat the Akatsuki, we can't afford to play by the rules."

"The guy who beat the Akatsuki Leader vs the guy who killed Deidara? This should be entertaining! I want to watch!" declared Kurotsuchi as she smacked her fist against her palm.

"What do you thing Tsuchikage-sama? Prepare to go to battle?" asked Akatsuchi.

"Do as you like, just make sure you stay out of the Raikage's way or you'll get yourself killed." warned Onoki.

Kurotsuchi pumped her fist, "Yes! You coming Akatsuchi?"

He shook his head and smiled, "No, I should stay here in case Tsuchikage-sama's hip goes out."

"What should we do Gaara?" asked Temari.

"What do you think?" replied Gaara as he rose to leave.

Kakankurou laughed, "I knew he'd cause an international incident! Naruto you are the man!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Forget about the Raikage! This guy is the biggest threat right now." Karin warned Suigestu and Juugo.

The duo gave each other a look, before charging at Naruto. Mid way through their fourth steps, Naruto vanished from his position and reappeared with his fist imbedded in Juugo's gut. Suigetsu's eyes widened in shock as the larger man's body contorted around his fist and went flying into a column. He tried to bring his broken blade around to behead him, only for Naruto to effortless block the strike with the metal plate on the back of his left glove. The blond then nailed his chin with a palm thrust, sending his neck snapping up. A quick spinning kick sent Suigetsu crashing into the same column as Juugo.

Trying to take advantage of his distraction Sasuke appeared in his blind spot thrusting a chidori towards his back. Naruto deftly shifted away from the attack, turning slightly he grabbed the Uchiha's wrist, and stared at him out of the corner of his eye as if he'd seen him the whole time. Naruto raised his arm towards Sasuke's chest, and the Uchiha eyes widened slightly as the air distorted around the blond's palm before an invisible force flung him backwards. Naruto maintained his impassive stare thoughout this, finally turning his full gaze back to Sasuke as the Uchiha skidded back on his feet and came to a stop at the same spot he was before.

The Raikage was slightly impressed by the display, while his two guards where flat out stunned.

"Who the hell is this guy?" blurted Darui.

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask, "_Very_ special jonin Naruto Uzumaki."

A turned to Kakashi, "His appearance..the look in his eye...he's your sensei's son, isn't he."

Kakashi's silence at his insinuation was all the answer he needed.

"Yo! Old Man! You the Raikage?" called out Naruto.

Kakashi face-palmed as A's eye twitched in annoyance, "Yeah, what of it? You're interrupting my fight! I got a bone to pick with this Uchiha brat!"

"About your brother right? Yeah, they don't have him! Ain't that right Sasuke?" remarked Naruto.

Sasuke didn't really care one way or another, "Yeah, he tricked me with some clone thing and got away. I don't really care though, I'll fight all of you anyway."

_'Dammit Bee! That crazy fool, must have used the attack as an excuse to go goofing off somewhere! I'll deal with him later, the Uchiha must still answer for attacking the summit and invading Kumo!'_ thought A.

"Why don't you go back to meeting and relax. Have a cup of sake with the older old crones. We brats can sort this out ourselves. I'll bring you what's left when I'm done." cheekily suggested Naruto.

Shi couldn't believe the mouth on this guy, "Is he just plain crazy?"

Kakashi chuckled and shrugged, "Since he met them, his nicknames for Hokage-sama and the late Jiraiya-sama were 'Baa-chan' and 'Ero-sennin'. He's a straight shooter."

A let out a snort of amusement, "He sounds as crazy and annoying as my brother."

Naruto turned his attention back to Sasuke, "Yare, yare, if isn't the runt of the Uchiha clan. How goes things Sasuke? Heard you finally knocked off that troublesome brother of yours."

Sasuke sneered at him, "Heard you knocked off the guy that killed that old hermit. How did it feel to taste revenge?"

"I feel like a new me!" exclaimed Naruto with a hint of mirth in his tone.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "So, finally you understand..."

A manic grin spread across Naruto's face, "Sure, why don't you ditch these losers and team up with me. Screw the Five Kage's and their little plans! To hell with Madara! The two of us can do whatever we want! Cause some serious mayhem! They'll all pay for what they've done meddling in our lives! What do you say? I get Madara, you get the old meddling fools of Konoha, that's an even trade. We can make our own justice! Hahahaha!"

Sasuke frowned as he realized it was a ruse, Naruto was simply making a mockery of him and his path.

Sasuke shook his head, "You're still such a fool, Naruto."

"Better to be a fool than a wind-up toy soldier." quipped Naruto.

"So, are you doing here Naruto? Come to try and drag me back to that pathetic village again?" taunted Sasuke.

"There's only two ways you leave here. I pound you into submission until you surrender and answer for your crimes..." began Naruto. Sasuke merely laughed off this suggestion. Naruto let loose a devious grin, "Then the body bag option it is."

"As if you could actually back up that claim. You're as delusional as ever Naruto." remarked Sasuke.

"You keep calling me by that name...it seems you've mistaken me for someone else." growled Naruto as he crouched into a stance. "So, allow me to introduce myself!"

Naruto released another surge of chakra he'd been holding back, creating a massive crater in the ground where they stood and kicking up rocks and debris in all directions. Sasuke eyes widened in surprise as fierce wind kicked up around them before he dug his feet into the ground to firmly hold his position as his hair blew about wildly. Naruto's spiky locks faired no better than his own as the blond cackled madly as everyone in the area suddenly felt the true magnitude of his chakra. The blond released a pulse of Chakra that could be felt for miles and miles away.

"The Naruto you know is gone!" declared Naruto. "I am The Sennin! And as for you...well you're history just like the rest of your precious clan! Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"

* * *

><p><strong>A pair of old rivals have stolen the show of the Kage Summit. The top ninjas of the five nations gather round to witness the ultimate grudge match renewed. Madara's Grand Plan Revealed and Uchiha vs. Uzumaki, next time on The Sennin!<strong>

_Also, for those of you who assumed Tsunade De-aged, she didn't. Naruto's chakra just made her feel like she had some extra 'umph!'. That is all carry on._


	3. Uchiha vs Uzumaki: Showdown at the Kage

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything

* * *

><p><strong>Uchiha vs Uzumaki: Showdown at Kage Corral!<br>**

A heavy snowstorm raged at the three wolves mountains where the Land of Iron resided. The tumultuous nature of the storm was only matched by the chaotic twists and turns of the Kage Summit. What once started as a battle of politics and posturing between the leaders of the five great nations had devolved into a pair of old teammates taking up their fight anew. Unlike the Valley of the End, the enclosed column filled level of the pyramid building hosting the Summit didn't make for the best battlefield, but it would have to do. Naruto's white chakra cloak flowed chaotically around his body like an untamed flame as his laughter echoed across the battlefield.

"Okay, I have to admit, that is pretty impressive." admitted Shi.

To Darui that was the understatement of the century, "Pretty Impressive? It's unreal!"

"He supposedly defeated the leader of the Akatsuki. How strong is he?" asked A.

"Considering what I know about that battle, he's definitely at least twice as strong as when he fought then. And that's not taking the Kyuubi into account, only his own power." stated Kakashi. "I'd also have to say he's only getting warmed up at this point."

"This is a warm up?" muttered Darui. "I'd hate to see him when he's hot."_  
><em>

Sasuke scowled at his old teammate, "Is this supposed to intimidate me? Flaring your chakra? Why don't you do yourself a favor and tell me where the rest of the Kages are, more specifically Danzo."

_'Danzo? Why would he be asking for him, unless...'_ Naruto grinned, "Your new revenge target is the new Hokage, huh? So predictable...you'll have to go through me to get to the Hokage. You should turn back now."

_'Danzo is not the Hokage...Madara must have lured Sasuke here on false pretenses.' _thought Kakashi._  
><em>

Darui was lost, "Who's this Danzo guy he's talking about? He's-"

A raised a hand to silence him, "Let him believe what he believes. As long as he has his objective, he won't try to flee."

"Sasuke be careful, I'm sensing some sort of deception from him." warned Karin. "He has multiple chakra signatures."

"Of course he does, he's the host of the nine-tails remember?" retorted an annoyed Sasuke.

"I know that!" she snapped back. "He should still only have two signatures. Right now I can sense a third within him, closely intertwined with his own. Possibly a fourth..."

The Uchiha didn't care, "It doesn't matter. In front of these eyes, he's nothing. It won't be long until he's crushed beneath my feet, begging for mercy."

Naruto scoffed at the notion, "We'll see about that."

Sasuke made a beckoning motion, "Come on, give it your best shot. You won't even put on scratch me."

Naruto blurred forward and struck with a punch that Sasuke barely managed to block, bringing a sneer to his face. The duo quickly exchanged punches and kicks, with neither landing a blow. Sasuke disengaged before leaping high into the air, trying to withdraw his blade, but Naruto was on him too quickly. The Uchiha was on the defense, barely managing to keep up with Naruto as the blond effortlessly struck blow after blow. Thanks to Sharingan, Sasuke eventually adjusted and managed to execute a counter strike that knocked the blond off balance. The Uchiha took control of the hand-to-hand exchange, putting Naruto on the defensive as he pressed his advantage. To the untrained eye, only flashes of light could be seen as the pair vanished in reappeared in various locations all over the area.

The Raikage's eyes followed them with ease, his stern gaze more focused on the movements of Naruto, _'He's holding back...'_

"Not bad, not bad at all..." muttered Naruto as shifted to right to avoid an elbow strike. Sasuke followed with a palm thrust that Naruto dodged easily. Sasuke struck furiously with a combination of moves, but Naruto's superior speed was becoming evident as he escaped every attack unscathed.

"Stop running from me!" bellowed Sasuke as he charged forward trying to land a punch only for Naruto grab his fist. The Uchiha tried to bring around his other hand for a strike, but Naruto caught that as well. They entered what appeared to be a stalemate, struggling for position until Naruto suddenly grinned at him. A fist suddenly formed out his chakra aura that nailed Sasuke in the face. Naruto followed up by landing a knee in his gut that sent him crashing into the ground.

Shi couldn't believe it, "Did his chakra really just form a fist and punch that guy in the face?"

Darui only nodded dumbly. A remained silent, still studying the pair of ex-teammates with a calculating eye. The same went for Kakashi, _'Interesting...They must have adapted that from his one tailed chakra cloak. Not bad, he now has all the boosts of the old chakra cloak without the fox trying to control his mind.'_

Sasuke rose to his feet and dusted himself off, "So it's seems you've improved since the last time we met."

Naruto grunted in annoyance, "What did you expect?"

"You're good..." admitted Sasuke._  
><em>

Naruto's aura flared and he vanished from sight. When he reappeared Sasuke barely managed to dodge a punch with a tilt of his head. He then bent backwards to avoid a spinning kick from a second Naruto. Reaching down the balance himself with one hand, he scissor kicked the pair of Naruto before flowing into a spinning slash with the lightning charged Kusanagi in his other hand. Both Naruto's were hit by the attack and dispelled in puffs of smoke. A third Naruto attacked from his blind spot with an axe kick that blocked Sasuke will still facing away from him, before jamming the handle of Kusanagi into his throat.

"...but not good enough." The Uchiha plunged the blade into his stomach, pinning him up against a column. "Tell me where Danzo is and I'll end you swiftly."

Naruto smirked at him as blood ran down the corner of his mouth, "You should know better than this by now."

"You should just give in, you can't win." sneered Sasuke.

"It looks like those new eyes of yours are as overrated as ever." retorted Naruto as he vanished in a puff of smoke.

A fist shot up out of the floor, far too quick for Sasuke to react and nailed him in the chin, sending him crashing through a pair of columns and burying him under a ton of rubble.

Darui scratched his head in confusion, "Okay, I'm lost. When did he first switch with a clone?"

"When he first flared his chakra and vanished." replied Shi. "After that is was all clones until he came from beneath the floor."

As Naruto floated down to ground, Kakashi noticed that he sported a new addition to his face, a pair dark tinted oval sunglasses to conceal his eyes,_ 'He's serious about keeping the secret of those new eyes under wraps...'_

The crackling of lightning echoed around the room as flashes of light emitted from the cracks of the pile of ruble atop Sasuke. His lightning covered arm shot up through center pile, quickly followed by the rest of his body shooting up. The Uchiha landed on his feet, his body surrounded by his **Chidori Current**. The lightning soon all concentrated in his hand as the familiar chirping of the **Chidori** resounded throughout the area.

"The good old **Chidori**, huh?" taunted Naruto as he placed his left arm behind his back. "I'll only need one hand to beat that. Bring it on!"

Sasuke scoffed at the notion and wasted no time in charging towards Naruto. Naruto mimicked his actions as his chakra cloak flared to life once again as he charged him head on, cocking his right fist back.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as Naruto approached, _'The arrogant fool! He's not even going to use his Rasengan!'_

Intending to take the punch head on in order pierce right through Naruto's heart, the Uchiha rushed forward thrusting his attack towards his target. He never even came close. Naruto suddenly brought forward his hidden left hand, which contained a low powered ****Fūton:** Rasengan **that completely neutralized the **Chidori**. Sasuke had no time to counter the trickery as the air distorted around Naruto's right fist as he swung it forward,** "Shinken! (Divine Fist!)"**

The Uchiha felt an invisible force slam into his body followed by a massive shock-wave of energy sent him rocketing backwards and crashing through a wall. Naruto remained where he was, his fist outstretched and an impassive gaze as watched Sasuke get buried in another pile of debris.

"I did say I was only going to use one hand...I guess I lied." deadpanned Naruto.

Naruto's chakra cloak subsided as he spat towards his old teammate in disgust, "You are not the avenger you claim yourself to be. There's no way some on your level could have beaten Itachi Uchiha at his best. That illness of his must have kicked in overdrive and he succumbed to it in your battle. You're nothing more than a rabid dog who needs to be put down."

The blond turned his back on Sasuke, his Sage cape billowing behind him as he strolled towards the Raikage, "Take that piece of trash into custody and do what you will. The shinobi who once called himself my rival died along time ago. There's nothing but an empty shell back there."

"Don't you turn away from me! You don't get to walk away from me Naruto!" yelled an infuriated Sasuke as he rose to his feet again, leaping through the hole in the wall, Mangekyo spinning wildly. "You know nothing of my hatred and my vengeance! Everyone will taste my wrath!"

Naruto didn't even acknowledge him, and the enraged Uchiha unleashed a devastating attack while his back was turned.

**"Amaterasu!"** The unstoppable flames appeared and surged forth to envelope to blond.

Before anyone could even warn him, they heard him quietly utter, "So predictable..."

Naruto calmly and quickly turned around and thrust a palm at the flames. A bubble like shield of chakra formed in front of his palm and the flames were quickly reduced to nothing as Naruto's chakra shield absorbed the attack. Naruto raised his other arm and the air distorted around his outstretched palm, suddenly Sasuke found himself flung towards Naruto out of control. Timing it perfectly, the blond planted a rib cracking punch right in his chest. Sasuke's eyes widened and blood spurt out his mouth. Just as the impact of the first blow truly started to register, a powerful elbow to the back of his neck planted him face down into the ground. For good measure a kick to ribs sent him skidding towards their observers and rolled him over onto his back.

Sasuke laid there frozen in pain and shock with blood leaking out his left eye, unable to comprehend what just happened to himself, _'How could he beat me like this...this shouldn't be happening...I have the Mangekyo...'_

Naruto looked down upon him with no mercy in his eyes, "You're nothing to me. Not a rival, not a worthy foe, not even an old friend. We were never really friends, it was all something you trumped up in that insane head of yours at the valley of the end. If we were really were the friends you claimed we were, you wouldn't have that Mangekyo Sharingan right now because I'm standing right here. It was so easy to play you for a fool. Showing up flaunting lots of chakra, talking a big game. You probably thought, 'Same old dobe. Probably has nothing but more of the Kyuubi and a bunch of bravado to fall back on'. The truth is it's you who knows nothing about me. You never have and never will."

Sasuke froze up with his mind swirling from the shock, the pain, and the hints of fear and doubt starting to circulate.

"It's time for you to be put down once and for all." declared Naruto as he strolled over towards Sasuke. Before he could make good on that threat, Sasuke's teammates moved to try and save their leader.

"Karin! Help Sasuke!" shouted a revived Suigetsu as he and Juugo double teamed Naruto while Karin moved to Sasuke's fallen form. Quickly checking him over, she found that Naruto had done some serious internal damage and caused several broken bones.

_'How strong is this guy?'_ she thought as pulled down the collar of her shirt to expose her shoulder. She tilted Sasuke's head over the exposed area so he could bite down and suck in her chakra to heal himself.

Juugo and Suigetsu weren't fairing as well in their efforts. Suigetsu closed in while swinging his broken blade to cleave Naruto in two, while Juugo aimed to behead the blond with his arm blade. Naruto chakra aura sprung to life and two massive hands of chakra stretched out and halted their attacks by grabbing them by the arms.

Suigetsu struggled in vain to free himself, "Shit! This was a bad idea! How is this guy so fucking strong!"

"Dammit!" swore Juugo as he also struggled to break free.

Naruto's chakra aura flared as he outstretched his arms to the sides, pointed at both members of team Taka. They both braced themselves as they witnessed the distortion of air around his palms.

"HAAAAAAAA!" roared Naruto as his chakra aura flared violently. The chakra arms released their hold as he repelled them and embedded them deep into walls on opposite sides of the area. He kept his arms outstretched as four medium length chakra rods emerged from each palm and shot out. A second wave of pain hit the team Taka pair as the rods impaled them through each limb, pinning them into the wall as well.

The blond scowled as he picked up the broken blade Suigetsu dropped, finally recognizing it as Zabuza's, _'Have you no respect for the dead?'_

He turned to Kakashi and tossed the broken zanbatou towards him, "Yo, Sensei!"

"Zabuza's old blade?" muttered Kakashi as he caught it by the handle. "I guess we'll have to return it to its rightful owner after this is all over."

The blond shot a look of annoyance to Sasuke's accomplices. While the pair were now out of commission for good, Naruto mentally kicked himself for allowing them the opportunity to interfere. As he turned around to find Sasuke revitalized thanks to Karin, he mentally kicked himself again, "Fuck!"

Shi snorted, "Yeah, you should have been paying them more attention."

Darui rolled his eyes, "We also shouldn't have stood here like a bunch of idiots and let them help him."

"You're initial little ruse allowed you to reach this far, but I will not make the same mistakes of underestimating you going forward." declared Sasuke. "I will beat you, you will tell me where Danzo is, and then I'll kill you."

"If you had stayed down, in respect for your brother, I was going to allow you to be arrested. But since you have chosen to continue..." Naruto lifted his cape over his head and tossed it aside. The weighted garment created a massive indentation in the floor as Naruto stretched out his neck and shoulders. "You will no longer be afforded such concessions. You can't compromise with criminals like you. No compromises, no mercy... you will die."

"I'll never allow my ambition to end here! I'm not afraid of you! You're nothing more than minor obstacle for me to break through!" roared Sasuke as he charged lightning chakra into the Kusanagi.

"Alright, it that's how you feel, then let's take it up to next level!" challenged Naruto.

The Uchiha blurred towards Naruto, holding his blade slightly behind him, poised to strike, **"Chidori Kōken!** **(One Thousand Birds Sword)"  
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Naruto laid it wait for the Uchiha, wind swirling around his fists as he approached. As Sasuke attempted a diagonal slice, Naruto blocked with one wind covered fist, before striking out with the other, **"Sempūken! (Tornado Fist!)"**

Sasuke twisted his body to avoid a direct hit, but the propelling force of the attack flung him backwards and sent Kusanagi flying from his grasp. Twisting in midair, he managed to gather himself and landed on his feet halfway up a column. Channeling more lightning chakra into his hands he flung them towards Naruto, **"Chidori Senbon! (One Thousand Birds Senbon)"**

Multiple senbon shaped lightning attacks flew towards Naruto. Naruto crouched and bent his arm at his sides, spiral shaped balls of wind forming in his hands before he thrust them towards the incoming attacks, **"Fūton:** **Rasendangan! (Wind Release: Spiral Shot)"**

Naruto fired multiple palm sized spiral shaped blasts of wind, each meeting a **Chidori Senbon** head on and cancelling out the attack. As he completed his neutralizing of Sasuke's attack he stopped firing and the spiral balls wind died out in his palm only to quickly be replaced by spiral balls of fire, **"Katon:** **Rasen**tekidan**! (Fire Release: Spiral Grenade)"**

The sage unleashed a rapid fire assault of the flaming projectiles at Sasuke, but most of them were off target. The ones that were on target, Sasuke managed to avoid easily by shifting along the column. **  
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Sasuke scoffed as he dodged another blast effortlessly, "Fool! He won't give up! He just keeps firing and firing hoping he'll get lucky!"

Naruto seemed to be in a trance and kept on madly firing off spiral blasts with no end in sight to his assault. This was the scene that Gaara, his siblings, and Kurotsuchi arrived to as they came through a hole in the south wall caused by the battle.

Kankurou let out whistle of appreciation as he surveyed the battlefield, "Man, it looks like we've missed some good stuff already."

Gaara said nothing as he stoically observed the scene and uncorked his gourd to defend against a stray attack in necessary.

_'Your eyes are still the same Sasuke Uchiha. Eyes that long for power and are filled with hatred and malicious intent. The same as my eyse used to be.'_ thought Gaara. _'Naruto saved me from that hell that was loneliness. I learned that way of living didn't solve anything. You have rejected Naruto attempts to save you, instead fleeing into you're own little world of hatred. Now there is no way for you to return. Naruto has turned his against you, to stop you from spreading your disease of hatred to the world. He will not fail.'_

As here brother contemplated the deeper meanings of the clash, Temari focus on the actual battle. She narrowed her eyes at the form of Naruto, "He's just wasting chakra firing away like that."

"No, he's doing something else. Look!" replied Kurotsuchi.

The Iwa Kunoichi had quickly caught on to the fact that Naruto's attacks weren't simply errant attacks, they were accumulating in the air around Sasuke on all sides. Sasuke soon realized this too, but by then it was far too late.

"What is this..." muttered the dark haired avenger as it finally dawned on him. He was surrounded on all sides by a sea of spiral fire blasts.

Naruto let out an amused chuckle as a smirk formed on his face, "I thought you said you were going to stop underestimating me! Played you for a fool again! You never expected a guided assault! Your reign of terror ends today Sasuke! **Katon: Rasen**tekidan** Renda! (Fire Release: Spiral Grenade Barrage)"**

Naruto swung his arms down and the spiral blasts rapidly orbited around Sasuke for a few revolutions before all firing at him simultaneously and triggering a thunderous explosion. Copious amounts of smoke poured out from the impact point and everyone stared into the dark debris cloud in anticipation of the results of the brilliant attack. They were all caught by surprise when a blast of Amaterasu shot out of the smoke and enveloped Naruto nailed. The intense burst of flames continued on and burned a hole right through the floor. The smoke surrounding Sasuke dissipated to reveal him completely unharmed and protected by shield comprised of a massive rib cage coated in black hell flames, the **Amaterasu Shield**.

Karin let out a sigh of relief from her hiding place, _'That was too close for comfort! This is odd though, I still can't find Danzo. He must have a sensor of his own and be concealing himself with the rest of the Kages. I guess their location is what we'll have to go on...'_

The crazed look an Sasuke's eyes returned full force, "You should have never challenged me Naruto. No matter how strong you've become, you'll never hold a candle to my power!"_  
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Naruto's response was to come somersaulted through the air out the hole caused by Amaterasu and landing gracefully on the ground. His flack jacket was smoking a little and undershirt torn and scorched up a bit, but no worse for wear. He rushed Sasuke and used a high power shunshin to close the gap between them in the blink of an eye. Channeling chakra into his leg, as he reappeared Naruto delivered a high powered knee thrust that broke right through the bone of the shield and nailed Sasuke in the face. The force of the blow slammed Sasuke into a column. The shield had softened the brunt of the attack, the Uchiha was enraged by the fact that he seemed unable to put what he considered an inferior opponent, down for the count.

"Why the long face?" taunted Naruto. "You expected that to end it? Come on, it's just starting to get exciting! Despite the fact that I want to shove a rasengan right down your throat, I can't help but live in the moment a little. The entire summit of the five Kages has been put on hold on account of you and me. I only wish we had more open space so we could really go nuts."

Sasuke glowered at his old teammate as he extracted him self from the column, "I should have killed you at the Valley of the End."

Naruto smirked in response, "And I probably should have let Orochimaru kill you in the forest of death, but who's counting?"

Sasuke peeled back some of his shield to create an opening to attack. Taking a page out of Naruto's book, he charged his arms with lightning chakra and unleashed a rapid fire assault of his own,** "Chidori Senbon Renda! (One Thousand Birds Senbon Barrage)"**

To his growing frustration, Naruto speed seemed to jump up a level as he danced through the assault effortlessly. The entire barrage of lightning senbon seemed to pass through a multitude of afterimages.

The watchful eye of the Raikage quickly ascertained the true reason of Naruto's ability to dodge,_ 'He's using the gravity manipulation to slow down the attacks once they get close to him. To him it must be as if their going in slow motion.'_

"Why won't you stay still!" roared the Uchiha in frustration as he halted his assault.

Naruto smirked at him from his spot hovering in the air, "You didn't say please."

"Please? Please..." Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "WELL THEN, PUH-LEAZE!"

Lightning had charged up in his hand once again and he unleashed it in a concentrated spear attack, the **Chidori Eisō (One Thousand Birds Sharp Spear). **The attack proved to be ineffective as it couldn't pierce through Naruto's chakra cloak, the lightning spear stopped inches in front of Naruto's chest. The blond swatted the spear away from himself casually and made a scene of dusting himself off. The Naruto he was glaring at suddenly waved at him before dispelling, revealing himself to be a shadow clone. Already knowing it was too late, Sasuke looked up anyway to see the incoming fist of Naruto, "Shit..."

**"Shinraken! (Divine Fist)"** The super gravity punch sent him crashing into the floor in the blink of an eye. Naruto wasn't done yet has he formed his trademark hand seal and about two dozen clones appeared.

**"Kamikaze Kage Bunshin **Shougai** Sentai! (Kamikaze Shadow Clone Assault Squadron)" **The clones all streaked towards the impact point where Sasuke crashed in the floor and set off a chain of multiple explosions on contact. The booming attack shook the entire area, as the spectators raised their arms the shield their faces from the debris kicked up by the explosions.

Kurotsuchi was amazed by all the power, skill, and technique that two were exchanging, _'Wow! Wow! This is incredible! This practically the fight of the decade and it's from two guys close to my age!'_

"Are they planning on destroying this entire place or what?" grumbled Kankurou.

Temari shook her head, "I don't like sitting on the sidelines like this, but at this point we'd only get in the way. Only Gaara, the Raikage, and Kakashi could keep up with these two."

_'What will you do now, Sasuke Uchiha?' _thought her youngest brother_,_ his eyes focused where he was last spotted._  
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The sentiments weren't much different on the other side of the room.

"Talk about your overkill!" muttered Shi.

Darui chuckled, "Yeah, there's no way anybody could have survived that!"

"I wouldn't be so sure." countered Kakashi.

"Why do you say that?" asked Darui.

A nodded towards Naruto, "Because, he hasn't let his guard down."

Sure enough, Naruto was still on full alert, staring into the thick smoke as if he was waiting for something. Remembering how Sasuke, used the last smoke cloud for a counter attack, Naruto unleashed a **Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)** to clear away the smoke. What it revealed stunned everyone and brought a cold expression to his face. The Amaterasu covered rib cage surrounding Sasuke had expanded into the horned head, arms, and torso of a demonic skeleton with some musculature. It all still shielded by the flames of Amaterasu. From within the massive construct gained a crazed look in his eyes.

"Behold! The power only granted to those who have awakened the double Mangekyo Sharingan, Susanoo!" declared Sasuke.

Despite the situation, Naruto couldn't help but embrace the excitement that had been stirring up within him. He may not have considered himself Sasuke's friend anymore, but old rivalries die hard. And there's nothing like beating down your rival when they're at their best, "That's it Sasuke. Show me what you got."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back in the meeting room Ao had been using his Byakugan and sensory techniques to give a rough description of the battle. Being so focused on that, he almost didn't notice Karin using her sensory abilities to locate the room.

"It appears the enemy has a sensor with them." informed Ao. "They've been using the cover of the battle to find this location."

"The enemy knowing our location doesn't change much." asserted Mei.

Tsunade nodded in agreement, "We'll handle the enemy once they get here."

Ao shook his head in exasperation, "That is if they last long enough to make it here. This battle they are waging right now is no joke."

Onoki smirked, _'This summit just might be interesting after all. I hope they both make their way here, so I can see them for myself.'_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Gaara was slightly amazed by the sight before him, "Is this the power of darkness?"

"Meet my absolute defense! You won't be able to lay a scratch on me! It's impossible!" ranted Sasuke.

The revelation of Susanoo set Karin on edge, _'This is bad! Sasuke's chakra is darke_r_ and colder! I don't like where this is going...'_

Despite the display of the impressive technique_,_ Kakashi was not impressed by his old student. It was hard to be after witnessing the growth of Naruto first hand,_ 'Is this the extent of Sasuke's anger and hatred? This power is the result? Sasuke and Naruto were no so different. He has experienced the anger that drove Sasuke to this point. Naruto has harnessed his anger as a motivational tool. Training and striving to push far beyond his limitations. Sasuke has let his anger fester into rage and hatred. In the end, it is what holds him back. He is a rageaholic, who can't let go of anything. He's become powerful, but you lack true direction and focus. His not truly strong, he is nothing more than a tool. Naruto learned to use his anger to help him focus, that's what makes him truly dangerous. He's turned his anger into something positive, unlike Sasuke who seems to simply be stuck in his own little world of his own creation. I used to focus on you because I thought you needed the most help in learning what truly mattered. Seeing you like this makes me wish I hadn't bothered to waste my time.'_

The crazed look in his enemies eye, nor did the massive construct in front of him phase Naruto. He had a look that seemed all to familiar to those who'd seen him fight before.

"Why does he look like he's about to try and break that thing?" blurted Kankurou.

Gaara lips twitched into what he perceived to be a smile for second, "Because he is."

"Absolute defense, huh? I guess it's time to find out what happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object." calmly stated Naruto. Before Sasuke could make a move, Naruto formed his trademark hand sign again and a massive cloud of smoke obscured him view. From the smoke an even bigger wave of the **Kamikaze Kage Bunshin **Shougai** Sentai (Kamikaze Shadow Clone Assault Squadron) **were unleashed at Susanoo. The faint outline of a sword could be seen in the left hand of Susanoo as the arm moved forward and sliced at the Kage Bushin, triggering a premature chain of explosions before the clones could actually impact Susanoo. The Kamikaze Clones had been nothing more than secondary diversion for the primary diversion of the smoke cloud which the original Naruto and a half dozen shadow clones used as cover to create a Rasengan of gigantic proportions. Once the smoke and debris from the explosion along with the original smoke cleared, the gargantuan spiraling sphere was revealed expanding to it's full size. It was roughly the size of the rib cage of Susanoo. The massive arms of Naruto's chakra shroud had overlapped with his own, aiding him in controlling the attack as the shadow clones aiding in it's creation dispersed.

_'Even without considering the effect on the building, the Rasenshuriken was no go with that Amaterasu shield of his or even him using a normal Amaterasu to counter.'_ thought Kakashi. _'Still that Rasengan is **really** big.'_

The sight of Susanoo was impressive, but the thing looked like a massive summon. The sight of a normal sized human being like Naruto wielding a massive attack that dwarfed his on body was simply ridiculous.

"He's not going to do what I think he's going to do with that is he? I mean no one is that crazy!" exclaimed Darui.

Shi just gave him a deadpan look before giving a look towards the Raikage and rolling his eyes.

"Correction! No one else is that crazy!" Darui quickly amended.

Even A was finally caught by surprise, having expected Naruto to resort using the Kyuubi to counter, "It's almost like a tailed beast ball, just look at the size of that thing! And it's all his own power...this out to be good..."

"Oi! Gaara! Long time no see!" the blond randomly greeted the Kazekage.

Most sweat-dropped at the completely out of place time to say hello, but Gaara caught his hidden meeting. The redhead leaked out his sand around the room to put himself in position to shield the spectators from the possible backlash of the upcoming clash. The moment seemed to drag for bit in build up for this clash of the titans. The Raikage quickly ran out patience.

"Get 'em!" shouted A.

**"Senpō: Taikyoku Ōdama Rasengan! (Sage Art: Supreme Ultimate Big Ball Spiraling Sphere)" **roared Naruto. The arms of the massive chakra hands extended, shoving the attack forward at Susanoo. The left hand of Susanoo shot forward to counter, unleashing a massive blast of Amaterasu to counter. The attacks colliding at the halfway point between the two, but the massive rasengan managed to push the concentrated blast of fire to the two-thirds mark before it became a stalemate. Naruto gritted his teeth as he tried to force his attack forward. Blood slowly trickled out of Sasuke's eyes as he struggled to maintain Susanoo.

"Come on..." whispered Naruto as his body inched forward in the air, trying to will the Rasegan to do the same.

For a second, Kakashi could have sworn his saw the silhouettes of Nagato and Itachi overshadowing, Naruto and Sasuke. He dismissed it as his mind playing tricks on him when he saw Naruto inch his body forward and the Rasegan slowly began to do the same. Kakashi couldn't help himself, "That's it! Stay with it! Wear him down!"

Sasuke refused to let himself be overtaken, bringing forward the right hand of Susanoo to brace the left wrist and increase the strength of the flame, "You're nothing but a stepping stone to me! I will crush you! I will crush your Hokage, Danzo! I will make that whole village suffer!"

The Rasegan's advance was halted, and the flames of hell started to push the attack back towards Naruto.

"Shit, he's being overtaken!" yelled Kankurou. "We gotta do something!"

"No, you don't have to. Just watch." ordered Gaara.

Sure enough Naruto wasn't done yet.

"FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!" roared Naruto as surge of chakra flooded into his chakra cloak and fed the massive chakra arms. Sasuke's last rant infuriated the blond and exploded with intensity equal to his anger. The chakra hands surged forward and the attack overtook the blast of fire once again. However, they came back to a stalemate once again. It didn't last for long. A Naruto clone hidden on the ceiling revealed itself, having one purpose: to gather enough natural chakra to go out with a big bang.

**"Senpō: Bunshin Daibakuha! (Sage Art: Great Clone Explosion)"** The clone streaked through the air towards Susanoo and impacted with the upper left side of its skull. The skull bones close to the point of impact shattered, while the cracks and fractures formed throughout the rest of skull. Overall the attack was minor damage, but the major impact of the assault was disrupting the control Sasuke had over the technique momentarily and giving Naruto a window of opportunity to overwhelm him.

"YOU'RE FINISHED!" bellowed Naruto, summoning forth one last surge of chakra.

Realizing he was about to be overcome by the attack, Sasuke flung the arms of Susanoo outwards to wipe out several columns and angled the body to blasted through even more into an archway behind him as the arms crossed back in front of the body in a defensive position. The giant Rasengan slammed into the arms, grinding right through them as the power of the attack launched the body of Susanoo backwards in the direction Sasuke intended. As the columns went down, portions of the ceiling started to cave in until the Rasengan slammed the body into an archway, shredded right through the bone, and exploded, amplifying the cave in effect.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

While Susanoo and taken the brunt the of the power of the Rasengan, it's final release of energy was still powerful enough to shake the entire building and stun some of he inhabitants of the meeting room.

"Young people these days! No sense of restraint!" complained Onoki. "I'd only expected this type of nonsense from the Raikage."

"Sheesh! Looks like that Uzumaki kid is just as wild as Kisame. Maybe even stronger." muttered Ao. "He packed a ton of chakra into whatever the hell that just was."

Gai nodded sagely, "Naruto's flames of youth will carry the day."

Ao blinked at him in confusion, "Uh, yeah sure."

Choujuro could barely wrap his head around the idea somebody else like Kisame out there.

Mei's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, inwardly regretting her decision to stay, _'I probably just missed out on the best part of this whole damn summit.'_

"If that brat wrecks the entire building and we have to pay for it, he will be doing D-ranks until he's forty..." Tsunade muttered while leaning her chin against her fist.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Karin had thought everything was all over when Susanoo got blasted back into the archway she was hiding in. That was until Sasuke appeared out of nowhere and shunshinned them both to safety to the floor above. He unceremoniously dropped her on her ass and gave only a few seconds to recuperate.

"Have you got the location?" asked Sasuke, his eyes now reverted back to the normal sharingan.

"I've got the spot with the rest of the Kages." replied Karin.

"Good, take me there." ordered Sasuke.

"But, what about Juugo and Suigetsu?" she asked. "Their chakras are still back there."

"Forget them. I need to find Danzo!" barked Sasuke.

Karin froze in shock, shouldn't believe he was going to leave them behind, _'What-'_

"What are you waiting for! Lead me to him now!" he snapped at her.

"Alright, let's go." she stammered as she rose to her feet.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Thanks to Naruto's preemptive warning, Gaara's sand managed to be in place to shield everyone from the cave in. Only the Raikage wasn't hidden behind a shield of sand, as he preferred to use his own fists to blast away the rubble sent in his direction. Once the dust and debris settled, Naruto could be seen floating in the air from were he last unleashed his attack. His chakra shroud died out and his arms dropped to his sides while he slowly fell the ground and dropped to a knee, to try and catch his breath. He rolled up his left sleeve to reveal a summoning tattoo on his shoulder. Pricking his finger the exhausted blond activated it, and to the surprise of most summoned a copy of himself.

"Is everybody in place?" he asked the clone, while shakily rising to his feet.

The clone nodded, "Yeah, just waiting for the signal as soon as..."

"..he makes himself known, the base is guaranteed to be clear. I know." finished Naruto.

The clone grinned and scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Sorry, boss."

"Don't worry about it." Naruto gave the clone an expectant look, "I'm kind running low here so..."

"Yes, sir!" the clone saluted him before dispelling.

"Yeah! That's it!" grunted Naruto as he felt the revitalizing surge of chakra enter his body. He felt reserves return to about sixty percent.

"Is it over?" Darui asked Shi.

"No, I can still sense him. He using the cave-in as a cover. He's heading up above." replied Shi.

"Punk is probably trying to run away now. Not on my watch!" bellowed the Raikage.

"He's more than likely going after the rest of the Kages." asserted Kakashi.

"That's exactly where he's going." interjected Naruto as he picked up his sage cape that was knocked back close them during the battle. "The bastard thinks Danzo is the Hokage. Isn't he going to be in for a surprise. I'm tempting to let the old hag knock him into next week."

"We should tell her he smashed the sake supply for the meeting." joked Kakashi.

"Oh man, you're cruel." muttered Naruto as he slipped his cape back on. "I was willing to make it quick and painless. You want to get him beaten to death ero-sennin style. Remind me not to piss you off, like ever."

"What do you want to do with his two teammates?" Shi asked the Raikage. "They're still disabled."

"The Samurai can take them into custody. After the Uchiha, now!" he commanded.

Naruto streaked up through a hole in the ceiling, leaving them all in his dust, "First one there gets to finish Sasuke!"

A leaped up after him, "That's gonna be me!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sasuke intended on making a stealthy entrance to scope out Danzo, but Ao ruined his element of surprise.

"The enemy is here!" alerted Ao. "Up above!"

Everyone looked up to find Sasuke standing on the ceiling looking down at them with his normal sharingan. Looking around the room his his froze as they met Tsunade's, finding her in the Hokage seat. Before his mind could even register the significance, Naruto rocketed through the ceiling, nailing him in the chest with a headbutt that sent him crashing into the far wall. Naruto hovered above everyone in the space Sasuke just occupied, glaring down at his old teammate with his sage cape billowing behind him.

"You can run all you want Sasuke, but you can't escape from me!" declared Naruto. "Look around! You've been played for a fool again! Danzo isn't here! He never was Hokage! Your vengeance have rendered you nothing more than a simple minded fool!"

Sasuke grimaced as he rose to his feet, having been unprepared from the blow. The shock of discovering Tsunade as the Hokage, momentarily made him lose focus.

Karin burst into the room, "Sasuke, he's right! Danzo was never in hiding, he was never here! They lied to you!"

"No matter, killing the Hokage is still worth my while." snarled the Uchiha.

Naruto snorted, "Killing the Hokage? Not on my watch."

Mei brushed a lock of hair out of her face, "Lady Hokage, I didn't know your village produced such good looking men. Such a waste that they're trying to kill each other."

Tsunade rolled her eyes, "These two are often more trouble than they're worth."

With the Uchiha still standing around trying to figure out what to do, Naruto made the first move. His chakra cloak came to life as he blurred forward and unleashed one of his favorite new technique,** "Shinraken! (Divine Fist)"**

Sasuke managed to defend himself with the shield of Amaterasu as he slammed into the wall again. He wasn't expecting the follow up blow, however.

**"Chō Senninken! (Ultra Sage Fist)"** Naruto swung his right arm forward, unleashing a massive chakra fist at Sasuke, sending him crashing through the wall and into a corridor. He slammed up against the second wall before sliding down to the ground and collapsing to his knees.

The strain of using Susanoo to protect himself was becoming to much_, 'It's as if every cell in my body in aching...So much pain. I haven't even mastered it and it's already this hard to sustain it. How much worse was it for you Itachi?'_

_'What's going on? I can barely sense his chakra anymore?'_ thought Karin.

"All the experimentation and forbidden enhancement techniques you underwent with Orochimaru can never compare to my own chakra capacity, regeneration and stamina capabilities. You're running on empty while I've caught my second wind." declared Naruto as he made his next move. Sasuke struggled to put up a fight as the chakra fist of Naruto grabbed him and lifted him back into the room of the Kages. Before Naruto could hold him up in front of everyone, he tried to fully summon Susanoo. For a moment it worked and he broke free, but it proved to be short lived as he was only able to maintain the rib cage shield.

"This is the end Sasuke." proclaimed Naruto. "Your time has come."

His chakra cloak and arms suddenly turned black as the left chakra hand grabbed Sasuke around his Amaterasu rib cage shield and lifted him up into the air. The chakra from the fist suddenly pooled around Sasuke, enveloping him in a sphere of chakra,** "Yami Senninken Kyū! (Dark Sage Fist Coffin)"**

"And this is where it ends.** Yami Senninken Sō-**" Before he could finish the technique he felt a disturbance in his chakra. Looking down he found a white gunk like substance starting to spread around his body. Eventually the head of white Zetsu sprouted from the gunk. He looked around the room and found everyone else in a similar predicament.

_'How?'_ thought Sasuke as the pool of chakra dropped from around him and he took in the scene with the one eye he could keep open. _'Is this Zetsu?'_

Karin turned her attention to the original Zetsu still lying in the middle of the room, _'These chakras! It's all him!'_

"It's that first Akatsuki guy! He's leeching off our chakras!" exclaimed Mei.

"Leeching chakras? Didn't your mother teach you not to take candy from strangers?" taunted Naruto. In an instant Naruto shadow clones appeared all around the room plunging their hands into all the forming Zetsus.

"This guy has weird chakra. What is going on-" Zetsu was unable to finish responding as the portion of him connected to Naruto suddenly turned to stone, the face morphing into a frog statue. Around the room similar occurrences happened as a Naruto clones fed the leeches sage chakra turning them to stone.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

In the snowy outdoors of the Land of Iron, the hidden Black Zetsu was stunned by the turn of events.

"How did he react so perfectly to my **Hoshi no Jutsu (Spore Technique)**?" muttered Zetsu. "It's as if he knew what was coming...Sheesh this Naruto guy is really becoming a pain in the ass."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"No freebies for you. The minute I entered the room and spotted Zetsu, I knew it was only a matter of time." stated Naruto. _'True credit goes to Nagato, but it's not like I can really explain that to them.'_

As the Naruto clones all dispelled, everyone moved back to their previous positions. Onoki glared at Sasuke and Naruto, "I can't believe a brat like you killed Deidara. And there's no doubt you're the spawn of that bastard Yondaime Hokage. The resemblance is uncanny."

"Go have a cup of tea or something old man. I'm busy here." snarled Naruto as he reformed the Yami Senninken Kyū (Dark Sage Fist Coffin) around Sasuke.

"Game Over Sasuke Uchiha. **Yami Senninken Sōsō! ( Dark Sage Fist Funeral)**" The sphere of chakra collapsed into a single small black sphere the size of a marble before vanishing completely.

"No! Sasuke!" shrieked Karin. "His chakras are gone! You asshole!"

"Hey! Where's the Uchiha!" shouted A as he stormed into the room with Gaara and others on his heels.

"The Namikaze's brat just finished him. Crushed him into nothing." replied Onoki.

"You brat! He was mine to finish!" yelled the Raikage.

"The bastard isn't dead. He escaped again." retorted Naruto. "This is his work no doubt..."

"What are you talking about?" questioned Ao. "We all just saw you finish him. I saw his chakras vanish."

Naruto shook his head, "He wasn't crushed, he vanished from beneath the chakra, before I completed the technique. I'm surprised his master took so long to bail him out. I almost thought he was going to let me kill him."

"You destroyed my last pawn, can't have you wiping out this one so soon." echoed the voice of Madara as he swirled to existence in the room behind everyone with Sasuke draped over his shoulder.

Naruto snorted, "About you made your presence known. I've been waiting for you to come crawling out of whatever hole you've been hiding in."

"We meet again, Naruto Uzumaki. You a truly one meddlesome fool." stated Madara.

"Who is this guy?" bellowed A.

Naruto smirked, "You guys don't know? I thought he was your boss? The self proclaimed 'Ruler of the World' has finally decided to reveal himself to the rest of us mere mortals. Isn't that right...Madara Uchiha?"

"So you know who I am already. It looks like Pein's betrayal runs far deeper than I thought." casually stated Madara.

"You have no idea." responded Naruto.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Madara reveals himself to preserve the life of Sasuke. What other surprises does he have in store for the five great nations? The World's Greatest Criminal, next time on The Sennin.<strong>_

**Jutsu Notes**

****Yami Senninken Kyū! (Dark Sage Fist Coffin)** - Creates a shell of condensed chakra with it's own gravitation field inside. Preparation for Dark Sage Fist Funeral.  
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****Yami Senninken Sōsō ( Dark Sage Fist Funeral) - Compression of condensed chakra and it's gravitational field. Destroys everything inside chakra shell with black hole like effect.****

******Senpō: Bunshin Daibakuha!** (Sage Art: Great Clone Explosion) - Explosive clone far more powerful than normal variant thanks to use of natural chakra.  
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**Shinraken- Direct Japanese translation is Divine Omnipresent Fist, but Divine Fist sounds better in English. And calling it Shinken just sounded weird. A punching version of the Shinra Tensei technique. Range is smaller and more concentrated, and eliminates delay between usage.  
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****Senpō: Taikyoku Ōdama Rasengan! (Sage Art: Supreme Ultimate Big Ball Spiraling Sphere)** - A really fucking big and poweful rasengan.**

****Kamikaze Kage Bunshin **Shougai** Sentai (Kamikaze Shadow Clone Assault Squadron)** - A swarm of flying explosive clones that explode on contact with target. More powerful than normal explosive clones, but not as powerful as Sage Art: Great Clone Explosion.**

****Katon: Rasen**tekidan** Renda! (Fire Release: Spiral Grenade Barrage)** - Explosive spiral shaped ball of the fire that can be relaesed as a rapidfire attack**

****Fūton:** **Rasendangan! (Wind Release: Spiral Shot) - Explosive  
><strong>**

To random annon reviewer 'What the Hell'- Why the hell don't you login and review! Then there could be discussion or pms! What's your deal man! What's your deal! Nuff Said.

Kudos to Jaeromaru for seeing the heavy influence of Piccolo, and the concept of bringing presence to a fight instead of jumping to the simplistic conclusion of Kenpachi/Vegito arrogance. Piccolo never did get the credit he deserved. Especially as the Super Saiyan powers got simply ridiculous. That was where most of the influence came from for Naruto's entrance in the previous chapter, not Kenpachi or Vegito as a few thought.


	4. Going Head to Head

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything**  
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* * *

><p><strong>Going Head to Head<br>**

The time Naruto had been waiting for had finally arrived. For Naruto, the battle with Sasuke had been nothing more than a means to a end. A little fun until the real target showed up. If he had managed to kill the bastard, it would have been a bonus bowl of ramen, but he knew Madara would ensure the safety of his new pawn after the recent loss of Pein. Dragging out the battle only ensured many witnesses of the battle would be able to see Sasuke's mangekyo sharingan in action. The next time the Uchiha popped up anywhere, his opponents would be well prepared. In the case of the young Uchiha's new master, Naruto knew he would not be so fortunate. Madara was here for a reason. A man doesn't stick to the shadows for decades and then reveal himself just to say hello. Screwing up the delivery of that message was important. As long as the five kages didn't react in matter Madara expects them to, the small victory went to Naruto. Naruto also knew he would get one shot, and one shot alone to send his own message to Madara. He would not miss it.

Madara stared down upon the assembled shinobi from behind his spiral mask with a very business like expression. Everything so far had played out mostly as he suspected it would. He only needed to keep the ball rolling, so in the end his plans could come to fruition. He had taken notice of Naruto, finding that the turning of Pein only seemed to be scratching the surface of what the young shinobi was truly capable of.

_'Perhaps the boy is shaping up into a worthy opponent after all. No harm if things were to turn out interesting along the way, victory always tastes sweeter when achieved over a great adversary. As long as everything works out in my favor in the end, I want to see the full potential of Naruto Uzumaki.' _thought Madara.

"So these are the five kages now, huh?" muttered Madara. "What a rather boring and predictable group of individuals. Nonetheless it please me greatly to have you all gathered here together."

"What the hell are you doing here Madara!" bellowed A.

"Oh, you know, this and that." casually replied the Akatsuki mastermind. "I had to pluck my fellow clansmen here out of the line of fire. Never would have thought Naruto Uzumaki of all people would have in it him to do the deed."

Naruto scoffed, "People change. And there's no use in pretending that you actually care about Sasuke. That moron is nothing more than a wind-up toy soldier you crank up with angst and hatred before unleashing him on a target."

Madara waved his free hand dismissively, "Your right to a degree about Sasuke. He's very easy to handle, but remember that is was his choice to follow me. He's been following down this path his entire life, he hasn't changed one bit. People don't change; people don't like to change. They like to sit in their little comfort zones and hope everything will be okay. They never learn anything, that's why history continues to repeat itself over and over again. Why do you think there have been three great ninja wars? But you Naruto Uzumaki, you're different. You cause people change around you. You also seem to reinvent yourself on the fly at the drop of a hat. I guess that makes you a freak! I like you!"

The creepy way in which he said the last sentence, freaked everyone out a little and caused Naruto to sweat-drop, "After figuring out your little Tobi routine, I didn't think you could become anymore of a creepy old bastard...I was wrong."

_'Heh, you think that was creepy? You've spoken far too soon.'_ thought Kakashi. The silver haired man knew one way, and one way alone to hijack the control of the summit from Madara: unleash the most eccentric Jonin in the entire elemental nations.

"Hey, Gai is just me or did we stumble on the deal of the century? Two Uchiha's for the price of one!" exclaimed Kakashi with a hint of awe in his voice. "It's like an Icha Icha release party come early."

"Yosh! A deal so youthful, you didn't even have to bring a coupon!" shouted an enthusiastic Gai. "But this is a perfect opportunity, I can't pass it up! Using these two I can spread it!"

Kakashi turned to him befuddled and a bit fearful, "Spread what exactly?"

"The Springtime of Youth!" proclaimed the green beast.

Darui, like most the other non Konoha shinobi, was completely lost, "The spring time of what now?"

"An elder ninja and his pupil, reminds me so much of Lee and myself! It would be a shame to waste this grand opportunity to pass down the ways of youth to another pair of shinobi! Then they can take the youth and pass it on, and the youth will flourish throughout the world!"

Kakashi looked upon the spandex clad Jonin in horror, "It'll be one big youthful epidemic..."

"Yosh! That's exactly right!" exclaimed Gai, striking his nice guy pose with two thumbs and with the silhouettes of a hugging Lee and Gai, alongside a hugging Madara and Sasuke overshadowing him on the shore of a beach with a colorful sunset. Might Guy had succeeded in generating the most horrifying illusion ever created.

"Can't...look...away!" gasped Ao, his face contorted into one of horror.

Kankurou wanted to gouge his eyes out, "Too much spandex! Gah!"

Various other face were frozen in horror, while the observing Samurai of Mifune had all gone into the fetal position. Madara simply looked around in confusion, trying to figure out why he couldn't break the technique. Beneath his sunglasses, Naruto possessed a look of pure concentration, _'This one time, I'm banking on the power of youth...'_

The Raikage was oblivious to it all, his brain focused on a single solitary purpose ever since Madara appeared.

"You think you can hunt down my brother like some kind of animal? I'll break your skull!" roared the A, his lightning armor surging to life. The leader of Kumo seemingly vanished from sight as he went full speed. He appeared in front of Madara, his fist passing right through the Uchiha and blowing out a chunk of the railing and wall behind him. Madara never even spared a glance at him, still puzzling over Gai's technique.

'You see the same thing, I saw?' Naruto signed to Kakashi.

'Nothing beyond what we already know. It's definitely high level time space manipulations.' responded Kakashi.

_'If the Raikage can't get to him, than pure speed isn't the answer. I'd like to try more tests, but I doubt I could get more than one more shot without him figuring out what is going on. That might spook him off, and I need him here as long as possible...' _thought Naruto.

"Well that's...I think that...Yeah, I got nothing. Excuse me for a moment, I must put this tool in place of safe keeping so it can be repaired." stated Madara as he warped away with Sasuke. Karin let out a sigh of relief from her hiding spot. She knew Sasuke getting mixed up with Madara would be bad news, and his words moments ago only confirmed it. With the Kages distracted and Madara taking Sasuke away, she took this to be her moment to escape. However, her freedom was snatched away a moment later when Madara appeared next to her and warped away again.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Madara considered dumping off the dead wait in his pocket dimension, but he had no further use for Sasuke at the moment. He elected to deposit them in a hidden base. He vanished a moment later as Black Zetsu appeared with Juugo and Suigetsu. Madara warped back in with a white zetsu clone that used its spores to start replenishing their chakra supply.

"Rest up for now. You four are done for the moment." ordered Madara before he warped away again.

"How could he have become like this?" muttered Sasuke, unable to fathom the seemingly brand new Naruto he encountered. "That couldn't have been Naruto. There's no way the Naruto I know could have gained such incredible fighting power in such a short period of time. Not with out relying on the Kyuubi anyway."

For Karin the picture was becoming far clearer to her, and she began to grasp how dangerous a game Sasuke was playing. The first was Madara, the way he treated them, he always seemed to get Sasuke to do exactly as he wanted. First going after the Eight-tailed beasts, and now invading the Hokage summit, both were suicide missions. The events of the summit made it crystal clear, when it turned out that Danzo wasn't even the Hokage. She had her suspicions at first when she couldn't find them, but when Madara showed up at the last minute she knew, he'd known this all along. A high stakes chess game was being played, and Sasuke didn't realize and didn't care that he was nothing more than a pawn to this man.

_'How long is it until he convinces you to turn against me? You've were ready to abandon Juugo and Suigetsu. Would you have down the same to me, if I wasn't useful to you at that moment?' _she thought while glancing at the dark haired teen.

Deep down the redhead already knew the answer to that question; she just didn't want to acknowledge it.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Bring back the Uchiha! I'm not done with that asshole!" bellowed A as Madara reappeared at the summit.

Madara waved off his demand, "Maybe some other time, we have more important things to discuss."

"Why is Sasuke Uchiha so important to you, anyway?" questioned Gaara.

"A sharingan with the ability to activate Susanoo is pretty rare." explained Madara. "I couldn't pass up having someone with that kind of power in my control. I sent him here for the purpose of training his eyes up further by combating the five kages. I didn't expect the nine tails to show up and almost kill him. I hoped he might have weakened you enough so I could take you hostage, but it seems that was too much to expect."

"That is by far, the most half-assed plan I have ever heard of." deadpanned Tsunade.

"And why is that?" questioned Madara.

The blond Hokage shook her head, "You act as if Sasuke was as powerful as Pein was. Pein almost single handedly defeated the entire village of Konoha. Sasuke Uchiha is probably barely at the level needed to put up a decent fight against a single Kage. You expect him to give the five of us a good enough fight to take all of us all as hostages? We've been following the movements and actions of that brat very carefully. Outside of Deidara he has yet to defeat an S-class opponent in a evenly matched fight. From what our intelligence found, even that was a close call. Orochimaru was sick, dying old man when he 'defeated' him. To cap it off, we now know that Itachi died due to an incurable illness. Nothing in his track record of skills lends credence to him be able to accomplish the task you sent him here for."

"On top of that he failed to capture the Eight-tails for you." added Naruto. "Just because he acquired a new level of sharingan, doesn't make him qualified to take on the best of the best. Fancy eyes don't make you a top flight shinobi."

Madara humored him, "Then what do they make you?"

"An asshole." deadpanned Naruto. "Believe me, I know."

Madara shrugged, "Meh, even if it was long shot, taking the Five Kages hostage was too good an opportunity to pass up."

The Mizukage was puzzled by his statement, "What could you possibly gain from taking the five Kages hostage?"

"I just want my Moon's Eye Plan to be executed smoothly." casually replied Madara. "But, first there is something else that has me curious. Tell me Naruto, how did you turn Nagato against me?"

Naruto smirked, "You act is if you had him in control in the first place. Nagato never viewed himself as beneath you, you were simply a means to his own ends. He was not as fragile as he led you to believe, he simply could not see another alternative to achieving his goals."

The spiral masked man rolled his non visible eye, "You could have simply said you weren't going to tell me."

Naruto ignored him, prepared to demand his own answers, "You asked your question, now let me ask mine. What really happened the night of the Kyuubi massacre?"

Madara folded his hands behind his head as he responded, "Konoha was in possession of my favorite pet, and that was simply the opportune time for me to take it back and exact revenge on the village. I didn't count on the Yondaime being able to best me that night though. Broke my control over the Kyuubi and forced me to flee. It was a good thing he was forced to give up his life to the save the beast and seal it again, he may have become a major problem in the future."

"You have been better off leaving my father alive." retorted Naruto. "Trust me, I'm a much bigger headache."

"So you are..." muttered the ancient Uchiha. Madara then told the tail of how he stoked suspicions about the Uchiha clan possibly being responsible for unleashing the Kyuubi that caused the village to start ostracizing them. In turn he stoked the fires of rebellion within the clan for this perceived injustice. It all came to head with the village being on the brink of civil war and meeting with Itachi. He told the young shinobi of the havoc he caused in the Mist Village with their civil war and how Konoha would destroy itself after already being weakened by the Kyuubi assault. Itachi made the bold move of offering up the slaughter of his clan to Madara to preserve the village as whole.

Kakashi summed it all up, "How shrewd of you. Not only did you get revenge on your own clan, but you deprived Konoha of its next genius shinobi after you already caused the death of the fourth. You did all this to prevent a civil war that you caused. Why go through all this trouble? What's your endgame?"

Madara grinned beneath his mask, "My endgame? It's quite ingenious really. My goal is to achieve a 'complete form' in which everything is united. Everything will become one with me! You see long ago, when the Sage of Six Paths was still alive, he stopped a monster of a great, near apocalyptic proportions. This monster was called the Juubi."

A wasn't buying it, "Juubi? A ten tailed beast? You must be bluffing."

Madara shook his head, "I assure you, I am not. The Juubi was a monster that was the origin of the Tailed Beasts. The Sage of Six Paths sealed the Juubi into his own body and acted as the very first Jinchuuriki. He then sealed the body of the ten tailed beast up on the moon, the moon which he created himself. On his deathbed, the Sage of Six paths was worried that the Juubi shall roam again, therefore, he divided the chakra of the ten tailed beast to nine different beasts on their own, known today as the bijuu. My plan is simple, I will collect every tailed beast there is and fuse them together and seal it in me. And with that power, I will ascend to the moon and fuse with the Juubi to project the most powerful genjutsu, Mugen Tsukuyomi. With that, there will be neither conflict nor wars, all within that illusion, shall fall into a dream like trance. I think it's a rather brilliant plan."

Mei shook her head in disbelief, "Brilliant? You threaten the world with slavery and death, and you call it brilliant!"

Naruto scowled, "You arrogant bastard. I can see right through the one major flaw in your plan! Even if we served you up the bijuu on a silver platter it would fail."

Gaara nodded in agreement, "He's right, it's doomed from the start."

Madara humored him, "And just how will it fail?"

Gaara responded, "Not just any one can become a jinchuuriki. Just look at all the failed attempts of creating containers for the different tailed beasts. The best containers were always young people, children or newborns, with still developing chakra coils. Eventually the strength of the container would grow to match the strength of the beast, enabling the host to subdue it. You are not powerful enough to contain the beast."

Kakashi continued, "Subduing the Kyuubi with your sharingan is one thing, but trying to control the beasts power when it is tied your body is an entirely different scenario. The beast will put up a fight and try to influence you. You say the Sage of the Six Paths only possessed the power to hold the Juubi within himself; you are obviously much weaker than him. You're much weaker than you were in your prime. If you tried to seal the Juubi into your body, you will be destroyed and unleash the beast on the rest of the world."

"Tell me what you are really planning, because there is no way I'm buying that crock of bullshit." demanded Naruto.

Madara didn't respond, he stood motionless for few seconds before shrugging.

"You old fool! You enjoy keeping us all in suspense like this!" bellowed Naruto. "I want you to tell me what you're really planning! Start talking!"

"Well..." began Madara, before he suddenly shook his head. "No, it's pointless."

Naruto wasn't going to take no for answer, "Look you senile old man, I have no intention of asking you again. You answer me right now!"

Madara casually dismissed him, "As I said before it's pointless. You could never understand the true nature of my plans."

The young sage suddenly realized that Madara's refusal to answer was all the answer he needed, "You pathetic retched has been excuse for a ninja! If you let the Juubi free it will be the end of all of us! And you don't even care! You can't pass up a half-assed chance to play god!"

Onoki's eyes widened in shock, "You can't be that insane, to possibly bring about the end of the world just so you can play god?"

Madara waved his hand dismissively, "Believe what you will. Hand over the eight tails and nine tails, unless you want to face war."

"If you think we'll hand over control of this world on silver platter to you, you truly have lost your mind." declared a scowling Tsunade.

Mei nodded in agreement, "What is left for mankind if we can't strive for our hopes and dreams? I've seen the damage you've caused in my own village first hand. I'd never entrust anything to your vile greedy hands."

"You are a delusional madman, the greatest criminal this world has ever known." proclaimed Gaara. "We do not negotiate with criminals. There will be no compromises for you. No compromises and no mercy."

Madara cocked his head to the side, "So, that's how you want to play it, huh?"

A smirk formed on Naruto's face as he let out a low chuckle, "It was an asinine request anyway. You're demanding the Five Kages to hand over something they don't have. The power of the Kyuubi was entrusted to me and me alone. No one else has a say in what I do with it. I don't care if the whole world turns against me and I have to carry the battle against you on my shoulders alone, you'll never get the Kyuubi from me. I'll die and drag it down to hell with me before that happens. As long as you lose, I win."

Madara chuckled, "I've been plotting this all out before you were a twinkle in your grandfather's eye, boy. If you think you can beat me, go ahead and try."

"Why wait? Let's settle this right here and right now." challenged Naruto.

"Patience, my young friend. Your fated battle is not with me, but with Sasuke. As I faced Hashirama in battle, you shall face Sasuke." countered Madara.

"I don't give a rats ass about Sasuke. Who ever the hell wants to fight him, can have him. I'm sure the Raikage wouldn't mind cracking that bastard's skull a few times." retorted Naruto, causing A to give an affirmative grunt.

Madara shook his head, "You will not avoid this battle. You and Sasuke will fight; it is inevitable. You are the Senju representative, and Sasuke is the representative of the Uchiha. Like the sons of the Rikudo Sennin, the elder, who inherited the eyes of the sage, the power of his chakra and spiritual energy and the younger, who inherited his body; his willpower and physical energy, you two will fight on two sides. It's your fate."

Naruto grinned, "Fate? Destiny? If that's what you're basing all your plans on then you've already lost. You should just surrender right here and right now. You can't win."

"You know, you're truly a disgrace. Been alive for over a century and yet you still possess the temperament of a foolish child." stated the Tsuchikage.

Madara let out a snort of amusement, "If pretending that I care what you think, makes you fell better, then go right ahead."

"Alright, you got this Naruto. Steady now, this is it." Naruto murmured to himself as he removed his Sage cape again and took a few depth breaths to focus himself. The large crash the weighted garment made caught everyone's attention, _'This one is for you Dad! And Ero-sennin too! I've come too far to fail now...'_

X-X-X-X-X-X-_**Flashback**_-X-X-X-X-X

Gamabunta took another puff from his pipe as he watched Naruto continue to push his limits. The brat trained so hard, he figured the least he could do was watch over him. Especially with the insane regimens he put himself through. Currently on top of the heavily weighted clothing the blond was wearing, he had a couple clones practicing their control over gravity by amplifying the gravity in the small training area he'd marked off.

"He's been at it for hours, isn't it time for a break?" muttered Gamakichi as he hopped down next to his father.

Gamabunta let out an amused snort, "You know how hard headed he is. Just like his godfather and his father that way. Training until they collapse is they only way they operate."

Naruto dropped to a knee, breathing heavily with multiple beads of sweat pouring down his face. His weighted sage cape and flak jacket ripped and scuffed in several places to match the assortment of scrapes and bruises covering his body. Looking up towards the skies the troubles of his mind came to life, as a mirage of Madara appeared in the sky.

"What's the matter Naruto? Growing weary already?" taunted the orange spiral masked illusion. "Looks like the nine tales will be returned to me soon enough. Hahaha!"

Naruto gritted his teeth, "I don't fear you Madara!"

Letting out a guttural roar, his chakra cloak flared to life and a shadow clone appeared in front of him in the same state. The clone let out a grunt before rushing him and engaging him in hand-to-hand. The original and copy were evenly matched as they traded intense blows for several seconds before jumping back to create space between each other. Sending each other an identical glare, they formed a rasengan and rushed forward into a head on collision with the jutsu. It was a stalemate as the techniques collided and they struggled to overpower one another. Eventually both spheres destabilized, triggering a explosion. They both were knocked back on their asses in opposite directions, each letting out a grunt of pain before the clone went up in smoke.

Within seconds, Naruto was scrambling back to his feet, "Alright then, round two!"

X-X-X-X-X-_**End-Flashback-**_X-X-X-X-X

With a mighty roar, the sage's white chakra cloak sprung to life. He hunched over at the waste slightly, bringing his hands together in front of his body.

Madara was slightly intrigued by the bold display, "Show me the strength of your will of fire, Naruto Uzumaki."

"You're making the same mistaken assumptions Sasuke did. I thought you would have figured it out by now, but I guess that was just too much to ask. So allow me, to reintroduce myself!" bellowed Naruto he let out another roar, increasing the power and intensity of his chakra cloak as a white sphere of chakra suddenly appeared in his hands. Kakashi clung onto the floor with his chakra as he shielded his face with his arm; the intensity of Naruto's chakra had pushed everyone else standing close away.

_'The strength of his pure chakra is just incredible...'_ thought the copy ninja.

"Ah, that's right. You are going by a new moniker now. All that chakra you're building up is quite impressive, _Sennin._ So just what exactly is it you plan to do with it?" questioned Madara.

"You know, that's a really good question." retorted a smirking Naruto.

"Whatever he's planning on doing is way too big for an enclosed space like this!" shouted Kankurou.

"He's crazy, but he's not that crazy!" responded Temari. "Right?"

Gaara didn't respond, only trusting his instincts. Naruto had warned him before, but with those dark sunglasses covering his eyes, it was hard to get a read on what the blond was thinking.

Naruto's face abruptly contorted into a scowl, "Now Madara."

Instead unleashing a powerful destructive technique like most of them expected, the sphere in his hands flared, emitting a blinding flash of bright light, **"Hikari Tekidan! (Flash Grenade)"**

The distraction caused by the bright light prevented anyone from seeing the hidden sealing arrays on the center of the walls, ceiling and floor activate as an intense weight suddenly descended on everyone the room. The blinding light also made Madara's exposed sharingan inactive for an instant. The instant was long enough for Naruto's massive increase of gravity to take hold of the Uchiha before he could escape via time-space migration.

_'So far so good.'_ thought Kakashi. _'Gai's distraction allowed the camouflaged shadow clones to plant the tags in the right places.'_

"This pressure...what is it?" gasped Darui.

"I can't...even...move an inch." wheezed Shi. "It's hard...to breathe."

"You two need to step up your training if you can't handle this." grunted the Raikage.

The two would have shaken their heads if they had the strength to move.

"Is this... your grand plan?" mocked Madara. "Add little... extra weight... to make it hard to move?"

"The funny thing about intense gravity, not only does it make it really hard to move even muscle, it slows down everything, including your chakra!" retorted Naruto as he turned the gravity up another notch. This caused nearly everyone who had been standing, to fall to drop to a knee.

"Yes, but...this is nothing more...than a stalemate!" wheezed Madara. "You can't crush me...without crushing everyone else in here. You...don't...have...the heart...to do...something like that."

Naruto grinned, "Who said anything...about me...providing the final blow?"

With great effort, Naruto suddenly dropped to a knee himself, revealing Kakashi standing behind him. His silver haired sensei had a hand on his shoulder, and the blond was shielding him from the effects of the room's gravity with a thin shell of his condensed chakra.

"So, how about it Naruto? Shall I grant him the coup de grace?" asked Kakashi as he revealed his Mangekyo Sharingan.

Naruto's grinned widened, "By all means."

Madara grimaced, _'He is far more capable than what his track record suggests. A well played hand indeed. If they had another means of dealing a death blow, I might actually be in some serious trouble.'_

Kakashi activated Kamui, aiming to create a barrier to send away the chest of Madara. He was unsure the possible effects of trying to take his head, due to Madara's own sharingan, so he targeted the other primary vital organ, along with a few others for good measure. Their plan was excellent, almost foolproof. If it was anyone but Madara, they might have succeeded. Naruto's hold on the gravity prevented Madara from opening the portal to transfer himself between dimensions, however, this became irrelevant once Kakashi's technique opened the folds of time and space. The only problem for Madara was the separation of whatever was in Kakashi's Kamui barrier during his escape. The Uchiha anticipated this however, not making a single movement after the activation of Naruto's gravity technique. He never moved until the last moment as the portal opened, shifting the aim of Kakashi's barrier to his left arm. As the entire body of Madara warped away, Naruto released his hold over the gravity, knowing they had failed.

"If I didn't feel like Akatsuchi just sat on me, I'd give them a big pat on the back." muttered Kurotsuchi.

Ignoring the throbbing pain in his hip, Onoki narrowed his eyes at the spot Madara just vanished from, "Don't get you hopes up just yet..."

"That wasn't supposed to happen." muttered Kakashi, breathing heavily from the fatigue caused by Kamui.

Naruto remained silent staring at the spot where Madara vanished, scowling and clenching his fists in frustration.

"Man, that was one hell of plan they cooked up." muttered Chojuro.

"Don't be fooled. It is not over. That man is not dead." stated Mei with a frown.

Naruto sneered, baring his fang like canines, "Damn you Madara..."

Right on cue, the Uchiha's trademark spiral like time space fold ripples formed and Madara reappeared. The Akatsuki mastermind's mannerisms where eerily calm despite the fact that he no longer possessed a left arm.

"I'll admit that was an excellent attempt, however, the Kamui cannot kill me." taunted Madara. "Now are you two through playing games?"

Kankurou and Temari were shell shocked.

"They do all that, and only manage to take off his arm?" muttered Temari. "An arm he doesn't even seem to miss."

"And that didn't even faze him! How do you beat a guy like that?" added her brother.

"Your little tag team performance was quite amusing, but I'm afraid I have run out of patience." coolly stated Madara as he walked towards the Konoha pair who robbed him of his arm.

Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized Kakashi as Madara's target.

"Move it sensei! Now!" shouted the sage.

Before anyone could even flinch, Madara appeared in front of Naruto, decking the blond with a punch that sent him face first into the floor.

"All too easy." muttered Madara as he turned to Kakashi. "I could rip out that troublesome eye of yours in fair exchange for the inconvenience of losing my arm. However, your sharingan eye is so inferior to the other sharingan eyes under my control, there is no point in taking it. So, just for you, the price has gone up. The road of life ends here for you, Kakashi; you have reached a dead end. _**Goodbye.**_"

"AAAAHHH!" cried out Kakashi as the ancient Uchiha vanished and reappeared again, this time with his remaining arm outstretched and embedded through the upper right portion of Kakashi's chest cavity. The wound emitted a massive spray of blood as the Uchiha reflexively flexed his hand that was now reaching out the other side of Kakashi's body.

Gai looked upon the scene in horror, "No! You fiend!"

Kakashi continued to cry out from the pain, causing Madara to frown beneath his mask, "You can stop laying it on so thick. Why would you do such a foolish thing anyway?"

Everyone was puzzled by what he said until Kakashi went up and puff of smoke to reveal a smirking Naruto haven taken the blow just below his right collarbone. On the ground where Naruto once laid, was Kakashi.

"Because..." grunted Naruto, coughing up a little blood in the process. "That old grandma we call the Hokage hits a hundred times harder than you."

The next moment would go down in the history books for generations to come.

The blond sage grinned at Madara, "You know, I liked you better when you were less serious. So, let put smile back on beneath that mask. You probably heard this one before, hell you might have even came up with it, but it's classic. An ANBU Captain and a hunter-nin are taking a piss. Noticing that hunter-nin goes to leave with out washing up the Captain says, 'In the regular ANBU, they teach us to wash our hands.' The hunter-nin turns back to the Captain with a smirk and says..."

Madara and several other men in the room couldn't help themselves as they all instinctively finished the joke with Naruto, "...In the hunter corps, they teach us not to piss on our hands!"

The next moment was so quick, so brutal, so unexpected, a few people missed it because of the joke. Despite having an arm sticking out his chest, Naruto grabbed Madara by the shoulders and delivered a vicious head butt. A head butt that was so powerful it forced Madara's arm back through his body and sent him crashing into the nearby wall. All the shinobi and samurai were stunned by the rapid turn of events.

The Mizukage summed up what they all were thinking with a classic cliche, "Now that's what I call using your head..."

"You really are an interesting guy." muttered Madara as he picked himself up. "Consider this my declaration of the Fourth Shinobi World War. The next time we meet, it will be on the battlefield. No if you'll excuse me, I need to reattach an arm."

With a bizarre salute, the masked man vanished into the unknown. With Madara's departure the all took a moment to gather their thoughts and resettle into some semblance of order. Tsunade went over to heal Naruto, but found the sage was already using a concentrated burst of the Kyuubi's chakra to handle the wound. Naruto ended up taking a seat in front of the wall behind, the Hokage's seat. He and Kakashi both waiting for the food pills the Hokage gave them to kick in.

The Tsuchikage let out a sigh, "The Fourth Great Shinobi war, my goodness...what now?"

"A five village shinobi alliance must be formed." declared Gaara. "It's the only way to combat the power of the seven bijuu."

Tsunade frowned, "That's fine in theory, but the Raikage has already voiced his displeasure with forming such an alliance."

A narrowed his eyes, "No harm has come to my brother, even so, I will not allow the Akatsuki to have their way any longer. They have taken too much already! Let's form an alliance to settle this threat as quickly as possible."

It was a bit hard for the old Tsuchikage to fathom, "All five village working together, I guess drastic times call for drastic measures."

"If we're in agreement about the alliance, the first measure of business is to decide what we are going to do about the Kyuubi and Hachibi. We can not permit Madara to obtain to Kyuubi and Hachibi, to prevent his Moon's Eye Operation. It seems prudent that we located the Hachibi and hide both of them away from him." suggested Mei.

"You're right, protecting them is a vital object in this war." stated Gaara. "I suspect one of the reasons he has declared war is to lure out the remaining jinchuuriki."

Tsunade shook her head, "Don't fall into his trap. You can't fight a war, playing not to lose. He mostly intended to create a state of panic in order for us to hide the Jinchuuriki away some place. Then all he would need to do is discover the location and ambush it while our forces are spread across the front lines."

Onoki nodded in agreement, "Not counting the Hachibi and Kyuubi as valuable part of our military forces would be foolish. They would be invaluable in combating whatever Madara has up his sleeve for the other seven bijuu under his control."

A sweat-dropped, "My brother is not the type of person to follow along with any sort of plans we might prepare. He could bring chaos to the battlefield."

"You think that knucklehead is going to be any better? Just look at what he pulled off now?" countered Tsunade. "We're better off having them somewhere where we can keep a close eye on them."

Naruto scoffed, "When he asked why I would do such a foolish thing, he wasn't referring to me saving Kakashi."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed and she nailed her fellow blond in the forehead with the closest object she could find, "You idiot! That's just makes it worse! You could have used a shadow clone, but you let yourself almost lose lung just to hit him!"

Temari shot him an incredulous look, "Why would you do something so absolutely insane?"

Kankurou shrugged, "This is Naruto we're talking about. He probably did it just so he could head butt him."

Mifune interjected, "Let's get back to the topic at hand here. Before us here is the first great shinobi alliance, its power too is a huge unknown quantity. Also, we samurai will take part in this battle. Madara is taking a great risk himself by coming to the negotiating table like this. It would seem that the situation is not entirely in his favor. "

Naruto let out a grunt of annoyance, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. Madara would not reveal himself to world like this without some ulterior motive behind it. He knew no one would negotiate with him, and he knew we would be going to war. The man thinks ten thousand steps ahead. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security."

Kakashi voiced his own disagreement, "You can't treat this like a normal war. This isn't a matter of lining up as many forces as possible. The Akatsuki rely on Shinobi of monstrous capabilities. They formerly possessed a single shinobi who could wipe out a single village. The only reason I'm alive today is because we possessed a shinobi on our side of equal monstrous capability. Let's also not forget that the last great ninja war was essentially decided by a single man with the capability to destroy an army."

Onoki reaffirmed his position, "I'd like to put our best foot forward. The various jinchuuriki were captured because they were allowed or forced into isolation. Repetition of the same practices would be foolish."

"I'll concede this point if we agree upon the pair of containers being forced to shadow one of us at all times." proposed Mei.

"I'll agree to that." stated Tsunade.

"Very well, I agree." said Gaara with grunt.

"That's fine." affirmed A.

"If that point is agreed upon, then we need to determine who will lead this alliance." stated Mifune. "Who among you is the most qualified to lead?"

Onoki rolled his eyes in annoyance, "You were the one airing a laundry list of our faults earlier."

Noticing Naruto was about to speak, Kakashi cut him off, "Naruto, you just got promoted. I don't think they are going to let you run the alliance."

"I wasn't going to do that!" barked Naruto. "I was going to point out that the Akatsuki has employed high ranking missing-ninja from only four of the five villages. The inner-workings and village secrets of only one place has not been compromised. That village is Kumo. It is the most secure. Besides, just look at the Raikage compared to everybody else. They're all scary in their own way, but he's only one at first glance that makes you think, 'Man, he might just reach out and crush my head like a grape with his bare hands.' Plus he looks like some sort of world champion fighter. That's got to be worth something."

He then noticed Kakashi was eye-smiling at him, "What?"

He turned his head forward and noticed that everyone was silent for the moment, staring at him and listening to their little conversation. Most were puzzled by his mismatching of clever insight and complete nonsense.

Mifune chuckled, "World Champion appearance aside, I do believe Raikage-dono is a good choice. Especially now that we know the eight-tails is still alive and he has regained his composure. He can control his brother the eight-tails and already seems to have the respect of the nine-tails. Those two are a major key to our success."

"You alright with that, Tsuchikage, Mizukage, and Kazekage?" questioned Tsunade.

"I've got no problem." replied Gaara.

"There's no time for arguments, I'll trust the Raikage." stated Mei.

"No issues, here." affirmed Onoki with a grin. "We'll all have to put aside our differences and cooperate. If the shinobi world ends, then I'll have no one to fight with. I guess we have to go inform those Daiymo fellas now."

"You know one of these days, I'm going to figure out how to stop running my big mouth." deadpanned Naruto

"Is that right?" replied an amused Kakashi.

"I got no chance in hell, right?" quipped Naruto.

Kakashi shrugged, "Yeah, it's probably genetic."

Naruto leaned back and closed his eyes, "Hey! Look on the bright side! At least, I'm not addicted to reading porn books."

"You really should get that checked out." muttered Kakashi, noticing everyone was listening to them again.

"No, I think I'm alright with it." replied Naruto with a smirk.

* * *

><p>A random observation I made when writing this chapter: Madara is eerily similar to Cell from DBZ. Both desiring to become 'complete'. Them needing numbered beings to do so (Seventeen &amp; Eighteen vs. Eight tails and Nine tails). Both being displaced from what should be their actual timelines, Madara should have died a long time ago in the past and Cell being from the future. They both have gained strength from leeching off of other people. They both hide away in secrecy before revealing themselves at opportune times. Just thought that was weird...Cell is much more compelling than Madara though. He at least has a purpose, Madara just seems to be a bitter old man when it comes down to it.<p> 


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